Porto Santo, Portugal, September 17, 2004 - Two Brazilian teams and six tandems from Europe will compete in the women's quarter-finals after winning matches here Friday morning in the fourth annual FIVB World Championships for players under 21 years old.
Three of the four top-seeded teams remain in the competition after top-seeded Mariana Couto and Juliana Moreira of Portugal was eliminated by third-seeded Sara Goller and Ilka Semmler of Germany 21-12 and 21-16.
Second-seeded Taiana Lima and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil eliminated 21st-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Maria Kleefisch of Germany 21-17, 18-21 and 22-20 in a match between previous FIVB U-21 medalists. The Germans placed second last season in the France U-21 finals as Solberg Salgado was third with Maria Salgado Rufino. Lima won the U-21 World title in 2003 with Juliana Felisberta Silva.
The fourth-seeded Schmocker twins (Sarah and Tanya) of Switzerland advanced with a 21-17 and 21-19 win over 12th-seeded Céline Gemise Fareau and Morgane Faure of France. The French had advanced as the No. 1-seed in the elimination bracket after winning Pool A Thursday.
Goller and Semmler play 19th-seeded Marion Castelli of Eva Hamzaoui of France in the third of four quarter-final matches Friday afternoon. The French earned a spot in the "elite eight" with a 21-16 and 21-15 win over 13th-seeded Belinda Huff and Olivia Orchard of Australia.
The other quarter-final match in the bottom half of the bracket where the winner plays the Germans or French in Saturday's second semi-final pits 10th-seeded Arjanne Stevens and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands against 23rd-seeded Maria Antonelli and Nina Vieira of Brazil.
Stevens and Van Iersel advanced with a 21-8 and 21-10 win over eighth-seeded Silvia De Biasi and Alberta Zamuner of Italy while Antonelli and Vieira ousted 18th-seeded Tatjana Lamonova and Alexandra Tihovska of Latvia 21-14 and 21-12. Antonelli and Vieira defeated Lima and Solberg Salgado 20-22, 23-21 and 15-11 Wednesday in the event's longest match (62 minutes).
While the Schmocker twins challenge Lima and Solberg Salgado in the first quarter-final match, seventh-seeded Sarka Nakladalova and Veronika Opravilova of the Czech Republic face ninth-seeded Maria Bratkova and Anna Morozova of Russia.
The Czechs earned a quarter-final spot with a 21-12 and 21-19 win over 17th-seeded Anna Bialobrzeska and Joanna Kuchczynska of Poland. The Russians advanced with a 21-19 and 21-12 win over 22nd-seeded Leonie Penninga and Roos Van der Hoeven of the Netherlands.
The mixed gender event runs through Saturday for the women when the semi-final and medal matches will be played. The 24-team men's Main Draw concluded pool play Friday afternoon and starts the 16-team elimination bracket Saturday. The men's semi-finals and medal matches will be played Sunday. |
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