Mason, Ohio, USA, May 21, 2016 – Following their semifinal victories Saturday morning, USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross and China’s Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia will meet in the internationally televised gold medal match this afternoon at the double-gender FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP.
USA’s Walsh Jennings/A. Ross and China’s Xue/Xia will meet in the gold medal match, to be televised live in the United States on NBC at 3 p.m. (ET) on the center court at the famed Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
USA’s top-seeded Walsh Jennings/A. Ross advanced to the gold medal match by winning their semifinal match in two sets over Spain’s fourth-seeded Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo, 21-14, 21-16 in 33 minutes.
The first semifinal match, China’s 13th-seeded Xue/Xia won in straight sets over Netherlands’ 11th-seeded Sophie van Gestel/Jantine van der Vlist, 21-19, 21-17 in 35 minutes.
Quick links
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 PhotosSpain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo and Netherlands’ van Gestel/van der Vlist will play for the women’s bronze medal at 1:30 p.m. ET in Cincinnati.
In the first semifinal, statistically China’s Xue recorded 30 attacks, 16 kills, two ace serves and two blocks while her teammate Xia had 15 attacks, 10 kills and 11 digs. For the Netherlands, van Gestel had 24 attacks, 13 kills and 11 digs and her teammate van der Vlist had 24 attacks, 15 kills, two blocks and two kills.
In the second semifinal, statistically, USA’s Walsh Jennings had 22 total attacks 14 kills, two ace serves, five blocks and three digs and partner A. Ross recorded 29 attacks, 11 kills and 13 digs. For Spain, Fernandez was credited with 15 attacks, eight kills, three blocks and three digs while Baquerizo had 39 attacks, 14 kills, one service ace and a game-high 16 digs.
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 HORIZON
With 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).