Daegu, Korea, July 14, 2018 – Austria’s Anja Doerfler and Stephanie Wiesmeyr were the lowest seeded pair that qualified for the semifinals of the Daegu one-star stop on the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and the only one having to win two matches on Saturday to advance to last four.
Australia’s Phoebe Bell and Jessyka Ngauamo, Chinese Taipei’s Nai-Han Kou and Pi Hsin Liu and Israel’s Noy Chorin and Anita Deev won their quarterfinal fixtures on Saturday to complete the line-up for the semis.
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10th-seeded Doerfler and Wiesmeyr started their day in Daegu from the first round of single elimination, where they shut out Hong Kong’s Yuen Mei Wong and Tin Lai Ng 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) to progress to the quarters. In a three-set battle for a spot in the semis, the Austrians came back from a set down against Friday’s seed-breakers Valeria Filkova and Ekaterina Filina of Russia to hammer out a 2-1 (21-23, 21-11, 15-6) victory.
In Sunday’s first semifinal, scheduled for 15:00 local time, Doerfler and Wiesmeyr will face second-seeded Nai-Han Kou and Pi Hsin Liu of Chinese Taipei, who faced a tough quarterfinal challenge against third-seeded Turks Merve Nezir and Aleyna Vence, but managed an emphatic 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) victory.
A moment from the quarterfinal match between Israel and Austria
Another Austrian pair, eighth-seeded Eva Freiberger and Valerie Teufl, also reached the last eight, and started their match against sixth-seeded Noy Chorin and Anita Deev with a landslide win in the first set. However, the Israelis fought their way back to a 2-1 (9-21, 21-19, 18-16) victory, carved out after 47 minutes of play.
Chorin and Deev will try to upset top seeds Phoebe Bell and Jessyka Ngauamo in Sunday’s second semifinal, set to start at 15:50. On Saturday, the Australians mastered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) win over seventh-seeded Pronsuda Kritsana and Yodsaphat Pakham of Thailand.
The bronze medal match and the big final at Daegu are scheduled for 19:00 and 19:50 local time, respectively. All four matches on Sunday will be streamed live on the
FIVB YourTube channel.