Toronto, Canada, September 15, 2016 - Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude of Germany captured Pool D here Thursday afternoon by defeating Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-9) in 49 minutes.
The match was the first FIVB meeting between the two teams with Laboureur and Sude advancing to the quarter-finals of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals when elimination play starts Friday.
Brandie Wilkerson - “The entire game was tight. Both teams fought for every point, as you can see by the long rallies. It came down to the little things.”
“It’s different to lose at home. With all the support we’ve gotten, it’s hard to stay disappointed.”
Heather Bansley - “Our side-out was consistent [in the first set], and less so in the second and third sets. Their strategy changed and they started coming after me, and I struggled with that.”
On playing with Brandie: “We are starting to develop chemistry. We only had two weeks to prepare for this tournament. Because we are so knew, we have to communicate and keep talking."
Chantal Laboureur - “You cannot complain if you have two wins in the beginning of the tournament. We still have a lot of space to improve. We didn’t play our best volleyball today but we managed to win both games. We played quite consistent last couple tournaments and if we can manage to play this way it’s hard to beat us.”