Lucerne, Switzerland, May 16, 2016 – Russia’s Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina will face youth olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos in the final of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships Monday afternoon in Lucerne.
The Russian team defeated Canadian twins Megan and Nicole McNamara 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-13) in the semifinal in the Lido-stadium.
Kholomina (18) finished third with her new partner at the CEV U20 last year, but played her first FIVB event in Lucerne. She kind of froze in the second set, but shook off her nerves in the tiebreak. The more experienced Makroguzova (19), who won silver at the 2013 U19 and has been playing on the World Tour for some years, calmed her down.
“She was very nervous”, Makroguzova said. “But I told her that I believed in her and it didn’t matter if we would lose. I would still play with her in the next tournament.”
In the other semifinal ‘Duda’ and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos defeated USA’s Sarah Sponcil and Torrey Van Winden 2-0 (21-19, 22-20).
Despite a three-point lead in the second set Sponcil and FIVB-debutant Van Winden could not match the power play of the Brazilian team.
The 17-year old Duda will climb onto the FIVB podium for the 8th time, she won three age-group and four World Tour medals so far. But for Ana Patricia this is only her second international final, since she won the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in 2014 with Duda.
Ana Patricia: “This is very important for me because the best of the world U21 are here. The Youth Olympics were special too and most of the athletes that were there are here too. But they all got so much stronger, so winning here would make it more special.”
Quick links
FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships Lucerne 2016
Men - Qualification results
Women - Qualification results
Men - Main draw resultsWomen - Main draw results