Austrian & Dutch Women Upset Top-seeded Pairs at ConocoPhillips Grand Slam

Diving for the Mikasa is Marloes Wesselink as partner Madelein Meppelink awaits the pass as the young Dutch team won their pool play at the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam

Stavanger, Norway, July 1, 2010 - While the first- and fourth-seeded teams won as expected here Thursday at the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam, it was a “tougher” day for the second- and third-ranked pairs in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour where pairs from Austria and The Netherlands posted upset victories on the Vaagen Harbour dockside courts.

Top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca of Brazil and fourth-seeded Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig of Germany finished Pool A and Pool D, respectively, with 3-0 group records to advance to Friday’s single-elimination rounds with an opening “bye” where the Beach Volleyball pairs will assume the first and third spots in the 24-team bracket.

Posting seed-break-throughs in Pool B and Pool C were the tandems 15th-seeded Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli of Austria and 14th-seeded Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands.  In earning their “byes”, Hansel and Montagnolli will fill the second spot in the elimination bracket with the Dutch being seeded fourth.

The third of six “major” tournaments on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour schedule, the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam also features men’s play where the first two rounds of pool play were held Thursday.  The women’s semi-final and medal matches will be played Saturday with the men’s “final four” matches Sunday as the winning pairs in each gender share the $43,500 first-place prizes.

While Juliana/Larissa and Goller/Ludwig were finishing group play Thursday with victories over teams from the United States and Greece, respectively, Hansel and Montagnolli earned a 21-17 and 21-13 win in 39 minutes over second-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross of the United States.

The top-ranked team on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, Kessy and Ross have placed on the Stavanger podium the last three seasons with gold medal finishes in 2007 and 2009.  The Americans’ second title was at the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships where Kessy and Ross defeated Juliana and Larissa in the finals.

Keizer and Van Iersel followed the Austria upset with their own seed-break-through by posting a 21-17, 15-21 and 15-12 win in 46 minutes over third-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil, the bronze medal winners at the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships on the Vaagen Harbour dockside courts.

Other teams winning their groups as expected Thursday to earn “byes” for the opening elimination round Friday were sixth-seeded Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China (Pool F) and seventh-seeded Nicole Branagh/Misty May-Treanor of the United States (Pool G).  Posting seed-break-throughs with 3-0 group records were 24th-seeded Nystrom sisters (Emilia and Erika) of Finland (Pool H) and 28th-seeded Madelein Meppelink/Marloes Wesselink of The Netherlands (Pool E).

After winning two qualifying matches Tuesday, Meppelink and Wesselink posted two wins Wednesday over the fifth- and 12th-seeded teams in the competition and closed pool play Thursday with a 22-20, 16-21 and 15-12 win in 50 minutes over 21st-seeded Cristine "Saka" Santanna and Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins of Georgia.

The Nystroms won Pool H by defeating 25th-seeded Ekaterina Khomyakova and Anastasia Vasina of Russia 21-14, 18-21 and 15-11 in 46 minutes.  During Wednesday’s opening rounds, the Nystroms upset the eighth-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) of Brazil after defeating ninth-seeded Janne Kongshavn and Ingrid Torlen of Norway.

After the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues with another Grand Slam stop July 5-11 in Gstaad, Switzerland, before taking another week off.  “Open” play returns to France July 19-25 in Marseille before the final two Grand Slam stops in Austria (Klagenfurt, July 26-August 1) and Poland (Stare Jablonki, August 2-8).