Tokyo, Japan, July 25, 2018 – The United States’ McKenna Thibodeau and Madison Witt claimed a straight-set win to complete the cast of the women’s main draw tournament at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Tokyo 3-star on Wednesday.
In the only women’s qualification round match, Thibodeau and Witt showed quickness and blocking strength to defeat their Japanese rivals Satono Ishitsubo and Asami Shiba 2-0 (21-17, 21-15).
“We are so excited to come out here and compete,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve never been to Japan and we truly enjoyed the people and the company. The win was just the cherry on top. We’re proud of ourselves for battling through the heat.
“Qualifying for the main draw is so exciting for us. We’re going to have to take every game seriously. Every team is going to be a great competition for us. So we’re going to keep learning and keep working hard out there and see where it can get us.”
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FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Tokyo
The American pair will play in Pool A with Japan’s Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami, France’s Alexia Richard/Lezana Placette and Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska/Aleksandra Gromadowska.
The women’s pool play matches will start at 11.40 local time.