Mason, Ohio, USA, May 21, 2016 – Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo continued their push to make the Rio 2016 Olympic Games through the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour by stopping Netherlands’ Sophie van Gestel/Jantine van der Vlist to win the women’s bronze medal Saturday at the double-gender FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP. The women’s gold medal finale and the men’s semifinals and medal matches will be played later today into this evening.
The event, which is one of the last three Olympic qualifiers through the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is being held through Saturday at the prominent Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio and the seventh tournament in the stretch of eight straight events on the FIVB World Tour. Next week the FIVB World Tour returns to Russia for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.
In just the first meeting between the two teams comprised of veteran players, Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo won in straight sets over Netherlands’ van Gestel/vander Vlist, 21-17, 21-18 in 36 minutes.
Breaking up two close sets that were both tied at 15-15, Spain’s Liliana had 12 kills, three digs, two blocks and one ace serve while her teammate Baquariza had 15 kills, 14 digs and three ace serves.
Statistically for the Dutch ladies, van Gestel had six kills, 10 digs and two aces while van der Vlist recorded 16 kills, two digs, one block and had three ace serves.
Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo both were happy with their bronze medal.
Said Baquerizo, “We came out very strong and we were trying to be very confident and very consistent. We were fighting every ball and we won enough of them. We did a great job.”
Liliana commented, “We focused on their strategy and tried to make our game a sideout game. We were kind of a little bit up and down in the first part of the (second) set but I think in the end of the set we did great.”
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FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Cincinatti Open
Men - Qualification resultsWomen - Qualification resultsMen - Main draw resultsWomen - Main draw resultsVideosMen's Main Draw PhotosWomen's Main Draw PhotosIt was Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo’s 90th career FIVB World Tour event as a duo with nine final four finishes, including four silver medals, two bronze Medals and three fourth place finishes. They leave Cincinnati with a 5-2 match record in the tournament. Overall, for Fernandez, it was her 96th career FIVB World Tour event and the 92nd for Baquerizo.
For Netherlands’ van Gestel/van der Vlist, this was their 13th career FIVB World Tour event as a team with three final four finishes and three fourth place finishes. They finish in Cincinnati with a 5-3 tournament record. Individually, van Gestel now has played in 49 career FIVB World Tour events with one gold medal (2014 with Madelein Meppelink in Corrientes, Argentina) and for van der Vlist it is her 73 FIVB World Tour event and her highest finishes have been fourth place, four times.
In their semifinal matches, Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo lost to USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross, 14-21, 15-21 in 33 minutes and Netherlands’ van Gestel/van der Vlist were beaten by China’s Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia, 19-21, 17-21 in 35 minutes.
FIVB CINCINNATI OPEN PURSE/POINTSThe gold medal teams at the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP, will split $11,000 and 500 points, the silver $8,000 and 450 points, the bronze $6,000 400 points and fourth place $4,500 and 450 points.
ON THE HORIZONWith placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continuing, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour continues with events over eight straight weeks through the end of May.
The FIVB World Tour was in Europe for two events over the last two weeks. Up first was in Russia two weeks followed by last week’s FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey (May 10-15). The tour is visiting the United States for the first time in 2016 this week for the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP (May 17-21) in Mason, Ohio. Next week, the FIVB World Tour returns to Russia for the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (May 24-29). After a one week respite, the final Olympic qualifying event on the FIVB World Tour will be the FIVB Hamburg Major Series in Germany (June 7-12).