A1 Vienna Beach Major
- Danube Island; Vienna, Austria
- Aug. 1-5, 2018
- A1 Beach App
- Streaming Video
- Qualification Schedule/Results
- Main Draw Schedule/Results
- Preview
Americans Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman and Lauren Fendrick/Sarah Sponcil are on the Vienna main draw after qualification wins on Tuesday. The pair round out the 32-team field alongside six other qualifiers.
Larsen/Stockman received a first round bye, while Fendrick Sponcil bested Latvia’s Marta Ozolina/Agnese Caica (21-13, 21-17) to start their stay in Vienna. In Round 2, Larsen/Stockman downed France’s Alexandra Jupiter/Aline Chamereau (21-14, 21-18) and Fendrick/Sponcil moved on to the main draw with a 21-16, 21-16 win over Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova.
Earning the other six spots in the main draw were:
- Andrea Strbova/Natalia Dubovcova (Slovakia)
- Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka (Latvia)
- Ekaterina Birlova/Evgenia Ukolova (Russia)
- Amaranta Navarro/Angela Lobato (Spain)
- Jamie Lynn Hatch/Taylor Pischke (Canada)
- Anniina Parkkinen/Taru Lahti-Liukkonen (Finland)
Two opening round matches went the distance with Davidova/Shchypkova topping Austria’s Dorina Klinger/Ronja Klinger (21-13, 17-21, 15-12) and Jupiter/Chamereau outlasting Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska/Aleksandra Gromadowska (21-13, 16-21, 15-11).
In Round 2, Birlova/Ukolova and Pischke/Hatch won in tiebreak. The Russians rallied past Japan’s Akiko Hasegawa/Azusa Futami (16-21, 21-16, 22-20) and Pischke/Broder held on for a 23-21, 19-21, 16-14 win over Dutch pair Jolien Sinnema/Laura Bloem.
Women’s pool play begins on Wednesday. Amaranta/Lobato will be making their first ever FIVB Five Star main draw appearance. Graudina/Kravcenoka also will be in their first major series main draw. Graudina is coming off her freshman season at USC, where she was an AVCA All-American with Abril Bustamante.
“It was a tough psychological game for us as we’ve met Dunja Gerson before and we have some history in the court,” Graudina said. “We played in a Major Series event for the first time in Gstaad this year and we didn’t qualify, so it was like a comeback for us. We are just very happy that we advanced and we just want to enjoy our games in the main draw.”
All three Austrian teams in the qualifiers were knocked out of the competition, leaving the country just two duos in the main draw: No. 8 seed Katharina Schutzenhofer/Lena Plesiutschnig and No. 32 Franziska Friedl/Nadine Strauss.
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