22-year-old Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno were really excited to achieve their first Olympic win on Wednesday afternoon at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris. Playing against home favourites Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard and with thousands of French fans on the stands supporting the opponents, the young Spanish hopefuls kept their cool and registered a solid straight-set victory in their second Pool F game of the women’s beach volleyball tournament at Paris 2024.

After the 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) sweep, Alvarez & Moreno jumped into the second place in the current Pool F standings on a 1-1 win-loss record and a better point ratio than Placette & Richard. The Spaniards are runners-up to undefeated table leaders Tanja Huberli & Nina Brunner of Switzerland, who hammered out a 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) shutout of Germany’s Laura Ludwig & Louisa Lippmann earlier in the day, with a 19-point match high from Huberli.

“So many feelings right now! Excitement, mostly!” exclaimed Moreno, who topped the match charts with 21 points to her name, including three aces. “It was great to have the opportunity to play against the local team. We found our way to show our best game, to improve point by point and, of course, to enjoy it, enjoy every single point, set and, finally, the game.”

“This has been amazing with all the family and friends we have here supporting us. We don’t really get such big crowds so early into the regular beach volleyball tournaments, so getting to play in front of all these people is really exciting. Hopefully we will get more people to watch our sport,” Alvarez told the FIVB after the game.

On Saturday at 12:00 local time (10:00 UTC), Alvarez & Moreno will take on still winless Ludwig & Lippmann for their last match in the pool.

“We are really excited. Our feelings are really good,” said Alvarez. “We just want to keep riding this wave and see where it takes us. It’s our first Olympics and we want to keep rolling and enjoy every single part of it.”

“Playing our last (pool) game against Germany is such a great opportunity,” Moreno added. “Laura is an Olympic gold medallist and a real role model in beach volleyball, and Louisa is in her first Olympic Games. So we know it is going to be a hard game. They are going to go all in, for sure. It’s their last chance, but also our opportunity to step out of the pool as high as we can and just to keep growing, keep enjoying this atmosphere and keep smiling.”

Wednesday’s second leg in Pool C brought second victories to USA’s Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng and Germany’s Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann and both teams secured their spots in the eighthfinals. The third-seeded reigning world champions were seriously challenged by the 15^th-seeded home pair of Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau, but managed to close the game in straight sets, 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) on a 20-point match high by Cheng. The 10^th-seeded Germans delivered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-9) shutout of 22^nd-seeded Czechs Barbora Hermannova & Marie-Sara Stochlova, with best scorer Muller’s 20-point tally including five kill blocks and two aces.

On Friday, Hughes & Cheng and Muller & Tillmann will lock horns for the first place in the final pool standings, while Vieira & Chamereau and Hermannova & Stochlova will fight for survival in the tournament.

In Wednesday’s last women’s match, 16^th-seeded Esmee Bobner & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland achieved a 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 15-11) upset of fourth-seeded Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson to remain the only undefeated team in Pool D and progress to the eighthfinals. Zoe led the way with 21 points, including two aces. Brandie also finished with 21, including four kill blocks and three aces. In the same pool earlier in the day, Latvia’s Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova, seeded ninth, achieved their first win at Paris 2024, a 2-0 (21-19 21-15) straight-setter against Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti & Michelle Valiente, seeded 21^st, with Tina leading the way with 22 points. So on Saturday, when the Latvians and the Canadians meet in the last Pool D, the winners will also gain direct passage to the last 16.

Olympic Games Paris 2024 Beach Volleyball: schedule and results

Quick links:
Paris 2024 Olympic Beach Volleyball
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter