2017 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – VIENNA
- July 28 to August 6
- Vienna Centre Court, Vienna, Austria
- Co-ed
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Brazil’s Carolina Solberg Salgado/Maria Antonelli proved too much for Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes of the United States, as they rallied for a comeback win on their final day of pool play. Both teams entered the day 2-0 in Pool I, but the Brazilian’s finished the first round of the Vienna Beach World Championships with a 3-0 start. The two teams have never met on the sand until this match, with the Brazilian’s having experience on the World Tour, while the American team is fresh to the scene, with this being their first professional season.
“They are a great team that we’ve never faced before. We were not as great in the second and third sets, which got us in trouble. We are happy to finish second in our pool,” said Hughes.
The match started with an American win, but Brazil fought back in the next two sets to secure the 2-1, (18-21, 21-16, 15-8) comeback win. Tough serving and blocks led the Brazilian’s to their win over the American’s, with Antonelli serving up five aces and three blocks.
The Brazilian serve was mainly focused on Hughes in the match, with Antonelli’s aces coming off tough line and cross shots. Solberg served the ball more evenly across the court forcing the American’s to mix up their shots, which proved the be their detriment.
Both teams made a number of mistakes on the attack, missing wide and deep. Antonelli, while providing more kills, still committed nine hitting errors in the match. Both Claes/Hughes struggled with their consistency on the attack as well, committing a total of 15 hitting errors in the match.
Claes took chances on her attack but they missed the mark, going long or wide off the left side of the court. While Claes was unsuccessful with the left cross shot, Hughes was her most powerful and effective hitting the ball to that spot. On the Brazilian side, the majority of the hits went the same way on the court but ended more successfully than the American’s were.
The win secures both teams a spot in the Round of 32 that is set to being on August 2.
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