Sochi, Russia, May 3, 2016 - For being two of the more experienced international players with a combined total of 299 FIVB World Tour appearances, top-seeded Barbara Hansel and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria needed to defeat a team from France here Tuesday afternoon to advance from the Sochi Open women’s Qualification Tournament here Tuesday for a spot in the 32-team Main Draw.
In securing a spot in Wednesday’s opening pool play matches in the US$150,000 event being held on four Beach Volleyball courts next to the Black Sea at the Sport Inn, Hansel and Schwaiger used a 2-0 (27-25, 21-10) win in 37 minutes over 17th-seeded Aline Chamereau and Ophelie Lusson of France to win their 25th FIVB World Tour match this season.
ONLY 15 EVENTS
The young French pair, who had to also defeat a team from Austria earlier Tuesday in the qualifier, had combined to play in only 15 FIVB World Tour events with this season being their first full-campaign together. Chamereau and Lusson led 19-16 in the first set and had two set points before the Austrians took advantage of their experience to comeback to win.
“The French played very well in the first set and we made several mistakes after leading 12-9 at the technical time out,” said the 29-year old Schwaiger. “We managed our game better in the second set when the wind was a factor. Our experience was helpful as you must adjust your game to fit the conditions.”
With the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour women’s calendar starting last October with events in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta) and Turkey (Antalya), Hansel and Schwaiger are playing in their sixth-straight international qualifier with Tuesday’s win marking their fifth advancement from the preliminary rounds this season.
7-1 QT RECORD
Overall, the Austrians have a 7-1 record for qualification matches with the only setback being in mid-March in the Rio Grand Slam on iconic Copacabana where Hansel and Schwaiger were defeated by Vasiliki Arvaniti and Penny Karagkouni of Greece 2-1 (21-17, 21-23, 15-12) in a 54-minute match.
“Playing in the qualifiers is good and bad,” said the 32-year old Hansel, who is playing in her 148th FIVB World Tour event with the Sochi Open being her 25th with Schwaiger. “But as you get older, you get use to the grind and are able to handle the preparation for each match easier. Since we are both experienced players, we usually know our opponents.”
Knowing their opponent Tuesday was the case for Hansel and Schwaiger as the two teams meet two weeks ago in a Chinese qualifier in Fuzhou with the Austrians posting a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) win in 29 minutes over Chamereau and Lusson.
Schwaiger, who placed fifth at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games with her sister (Doris), is playing in her 151st FIVB World Tour event. Of that total, 123 FIVB stops were with her sister as the pair medaled five times on the World Tour with over $700,000 in earnings and a 277-248 (52.8 winning percentage) to rank eighth all-time on the team’s win list.
OTHER QUALIFIERS
Other pairs advancing from Tuesday’s qualifying rounds to the women’s Main Draw were second-seeded Arvaniti/Karagkouni, third-seeded Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema of The Netherlands, fifth-seeded Angela Lobato/Paula Soria of Spain, seventh-seeded Jagoda Gruszczynska/Dorota Strag of Poland, 11th-seeded Nicole Eiholzer/Dunja Gerson of Switzerland, 20th-seeded Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova of the Ukraine and 25th-seeded Barbara De Sousa/Eunyce Vercosa of Brazil.
The Sochi Open has attracted women’s and men’s teams from 32 countries for the second annual event. The Black Sea coastal resort tournament is the first of two events in the Eurasian country this month with Moscow staging a Grand Slam May 24-29.
Following Tuesday’s qualifier and Wednesday and Thursday’s pool play matches, the elimination round matches begin Friday with the semi-finals Saturday. The medal matches will be Sunday where the winning men’s and women’s pairs will each share the $11,000 first-place prizes.
UP NEXT
Following Sochi, the final four FIVB World Tour qualifying events will be played in Turkey (Antalya, 10-15), the United States (Cincinnati, May 17-22), Moscow (May 24-29) and Germany (Hamburg, June 7-12). Also counting towards Olympic qualification will be the European championships June 1-5 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be played August 6-18 on iconic Copacabana.