Toronto, Canada, September 14, 2016 - Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca of Brazil, the defending SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals champions, opened defense of their 2015 title here Wednesday afternoon on Polson Pier by defeating Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas of Canada.
With their 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) Pool C win in 31 minutes over the Canadians, Talita and Larissa were defeating Broder and Valjas for the seventh-straight time in in as many FIVB World Tour meetings between the two teams.
MATCH RECAPTalita Antunes - "It was good. They are a strong team, they are playing at home but today we played well.""I know it’s good (to play at home) when you have a big crowd. I think they were happy as I was in Rio in the Olympic Games and it’s good when you can play at home.""We are always looking for (a medal), we are always looking for the final .We are trying to do our best and we know it’s hard because we have to fight against all the teams but yes, we are looking for the final."(extra motivation this week) "What happened in Rio was not the best, we wanted a medal but it was not the worst. The four best teams got to the semifinals, congratulations for the first the second and third place but I think we did a good job."
Jamie Broder - "It’s a tough game. Brazil is a great team and they don’t make a lot of errors so we tried to tighten up things on our side a little bit more. They don’t give you a lot of opportunities. If you don’t take them while you’re there, that’s how you lose. We’ll just build on our side for tomorrow and execute better."(home crowd pressure or motivation?) "I find it totally motivating. This is an event to celebrate our accomplishments as a team throughout this year following the Olympics especially. So playing at home is a celebration of that and we’re enjoying every moment."