Barbora Hermannova / Marketa Slukova Czech Republic (2) def. Heather Bansley / Brandie Wilkerson Canada (5) 21-15, 17-21, 15-7 (57)
Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic - “We didn’t know our position until a few hours ago and now we advanced to the semifinals and I’m happy and honored to have a chance to play two more games in such a beautiful center court.”
Barbora Hermannova, Czech Republic - “We were all the time confused how the (tiebreaker) rules are. After the game against Agatha we came here, and everybody was telling us we are through but five seconds later someone said it’s not so clear. I’m just happy we were able to stick with our good game. This game was the best one we’ve played in this tournament I would say.”
Brandie Wilkerson, Canada - “It’s always hard and we had a really great chancer here to win after having a loss yesterday and we really wanted it. They really wanted it, they came back from two losses as well. Having played each for like the sixth time this year we know each other pretty well so we knew it was going to be a fight. I think Heather and I stuck together and I’m proud of that. It just sucks to lose. We have a lot more to be proud of than upset about, so we can definitely look to that.”
Heather Bansley, Canada - “We weren’t siding consistently. Our passing and setting wasn’t putting us in great opportunities to score and that’s what really hurt us. This is such a great venue, the fans here have so much and are so knowledgeable, they cheer for great volleyball. It’s always fun to play in an environment like that. We love Hamburg. There were a lot of tough matches, all of the teams are top 10 in the world. All five of our matches were tough so it was great to compete under pressure against the best. We know what we can improve on looking back on the week. It’s a fine way to end the season being at an event like this. It’s prize money, it’s a reward for all the hard work we’ve put in being in the top 10 and being here. It is a really great way to finish the season.”