Qinzhou, China, October 2, 2018 – Ukraine’s Diana Lunina and Maryna Samoday prevailed in the most thrilling encounter of the third day of competition in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Qinzhou 3-star.
The Ukrainian pair pushed hard to overcome the United States’ Amanda Dowdy and Amanda Pollock with a nail-biting 2-1 (22-20, 20-22, 21-19) finish to move to the next round of competition.
“We didn’t believe at first that we could win,” Samoday said. “Towards the end we felt that we could do better and thought that we could actually win this game even if it was against the USA.
“We stayed together and had great team work. We fought for every point even when we were losing. We didn’t even look at the score, we just fought hard.”
Quick links - Beach volleyball:FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - QinzhouFIVB.com - Beach volleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramAngela Lavalle and Carol Horta beat Josemari Alves and Liliane Maestrini in the all-Brazilian clash 2-1 (19-21, 21-18,16-14), while their other compatriots Maria Clara Salgado and Elize Maia prevailed in their tie-break match against Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Khanittha Hongpak 2-1 (15-21, 21-13, 15-12).
The home team’s top bets Wang Fan and Xue Chen also endured their tough Czech rivals Michaela Kubickova and Michala Kvapilova 2-1 (21-19, 21-23, 15-9).
In other matches, Slovakia’s Andrea Strbova and Natalia Dubovkova, Switzerland’s Laura Caluori and Dunja Gerson cruised to the second round with straight-set wins. Two Spanish pairs - Amaranta Fernandez and Angela Lobato and Paula Soria and Ana Belen Carro – completed the cast for the next round with respective 2-0 wins.