Miguel Pereira, Brazil, August 10, 2019 – Four Brazilian teams advanced to the women’s semifinals at the Miguel Pereira one-star stop on the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Josemari Alves & Juliana Felisberta Da Silva will play against Vitoria De Souza Rodrigues & Vanilda dos Santos Leao in one of Sunday’s semis. In the other, Izabel Cristina Amaral Santos & Aline Lebioda will take on Andressa Cavalcanti Ramalho & Diana Bellas Romariz Silva.
To advance to the last four, bottom-seeded Vitoria & Val managed the fastest victory in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Within 30 minutes of game time, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) win over Guatemala’s Estefanie Bethancourth Guerra & Natalia Maria Giron Boesche.
Experienced Josi & Juliana, seeded second, were even more emphatic in their quarterfinal against third-seeded Americans Audrey Nourse & Nicole Nourse – 2-0 (21-16, 21-11).
“They are a young team with good potential. We had not seen them play before. The beginning of the match was tough, but later we could read their game and win at the end. We are coming at a sequence of good results so we just want to stay focused,” commented Josi.
“We know how the big tournaments work, so we got to do exactly what we are doing: look at our rivals, pick the best tactics and adapt our game in case it isn’t working,” Juliana added.
Fourth-seeded wild cards Andressa & Diana claimed a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) victory over Canada’s Darby Dunn & Molley McBain. After upsetting top-seeded Brazilians Taina Silva Bigi & Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta in straight sets in the first elimination round, however, Dunn & McBain remained the only foreign pair to have emerged victorious from an encounter with a home team in the entire women’s tournament.
The match between Canada’s Dunn & McBain and Brazil’s Taina & Victoria
The only all-Brazilian quarterfinal was also the only one that got extended to three sets. After a 46-minute battle between two of the competition’s wild cards, ninth-seeded Izabel & Aline celebrated with a 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-10) win over compatriots Rafaela Gouvea Fares & Flavia Moura Santos Cezar.
Both semifinals (at 09:30 local time), the bronze medal match (12:00) and the gold medal final (13:00) on Sunday will be streamed live on the FIVB YouTube channel.
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