Miguel Pereira, Brazil, May 25, 2018 – Brazilian pairs won all four pools in the women’s main draw of the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour one-star event in Miguel Pereira on Friday and qualified directly into the quarterfinals.
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The line-up for the first round of the single elimination phase of the tournament is almost complete as well, with the two remaining vacancies to be filled on Saturday morning.
Top-seeded Taina Silva Bigi and Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta won Pool A after receiving a bye in their first match claiming a 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) win over Italy’s Carolina Ferraris and Francesca Michieletto in their second. Earlier, the Italians had mastered a 2-0 (21-8, 21-12) shutout of Sweden’s Jenny Stralman and Therese Stralman as both teams will advance to the next round.
In Pool B, the bye went to second-seeded Colombians Diana Rios and Yuli Ayala, but they were defeated by Brazil’s Talita Calixto Simonetti and Hegeile Almeida dos Santos 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) for the top of the standings. The home pair qualified for this match with a 2-1 (9-21, 21-16, 15-7) victory over Uruguay’s Silvana Hernandez Barisone and Catalina Simon.
Naiana Rodrigues de Araujo and Rachel Nunes beat Uruguay’s Fortunati Lia and Camila Bausero, seeded third, 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) and Vitoria De Souza Rodrigues and Juliana Paula Simoes shut out Colombia’s Galindo Claudia and Galindo Andrea 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) to set up an all-Brazilian Pool C final, which Vitoria and Juiana Simoes won by 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) to progress directly to the quarterfinals. In a face-to-face match on Saturday, the duos from Colombia and Uruguay will decide who to accompany Naiana and Rachel into the first knock-out round.
The longest and by far the most interesting match of the day was the duel for the first place in Pool D. After an epic battle that lasted for almost an hour, Aline Lebioda and Diana Bellas Romariz Silva came back from a set down to emerge with a dramatic 2-1 (21-23, 27-25, 15-12) victory over Romania’s Adriana-Maria Matei and Beata Vaida. The European pair had already defeated another Brazilian team, Maria Clara Albrecht Carvalhaes and Thais Rodrigues Ferreira, by 2-0 (21-14, 21-12), while Aline and Diana had delivered a 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) upset of fourth-seeded Paula Ignacia Vallejos and Maria Francisca Rivas Zapata from Chile. Vallejos and Zapata will meet Clara and Thais on the pool’s survival clash for the third place.