WOMEN’S FINALE & $11,000
Sunday’s final matches will also feature women’s play where fourth-seeded Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland will meet sixth-seeded Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez of Spain for the gold medal. The winning teams will share the $11,000 first-place prizes.
Nicolai and Lupo posted a 2-1 (21-18, 15-21, 15-13) in 55 minutes over the Russians in the 2015 Sochi Open bronze medal match with Krasilnikov and Semenov winning Thursday’s pool play match on the Sport Inn center court 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 15-12 ) in 48 minutes. Overall, the Russians lead the series between the two teams 3-2 as Lupo and Nicolai won a three-set match two weeks ago over Krasilnikov and Semenov in Fuzhou, China.
“We played very well and defeated the world tour leaders today,” said the 26-year old Semenov after defeating Carambula and Ranghieri. “Those Italians have been a very tough team for us to play as they are both very active and aggressive with their style. We are also glad to be in the finals after placing a disappointing fourth here last September.”
Carambula and Ranghieri entered the match as the No. 1 team on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranking list with two gold medals to their credit since the start of the season. Krasilnikov and Semenov started Saturday as the No. 16 team in the world rankings and have now climbed into the No. 12 position.
LOOKING FORWARD
Nicolai said he and Lupo are looking forward to playing in the finals against Krasilnikov and Semenov. “It will be a tough match as the Russian fans will be here to support their team,” said Nicolai, who has a 2-5 record in FIVB World Tour gold medal matches with Lupo. “They have played very well this week with their only three-set match against us. If we played like we did tonight against the Americans, we’ll have a great opportunity. Sunday is a different day against a different opponent.”
Both teams won FIVB World Tour gold medals in 2014. Lupo and Nicolai topped the podium twice in back-to-back Chinese tournament in Fuzhou and Shanghai. Three events later in Moscow, Krasilnikov and Semenov were the gold medal winners. The Russians are 1-2 in FIVB finals.
To start play Saturday during the mid-day quarter-final matches, Krasilnikov and Semenov eliminated 11th-seeded Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter of Canada 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in 35 minutes while Lupo and Nicolai posted a 2-0 (21-19, 21-9) win in 37 minutes over ninth-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel of Poland.
Ranghieri and Carambula opened play with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) win in 33 minutes over 27th-seeded qualifiers Yaroslav Koshkarev/Ruslan Bykanov of Russia while Bourne and Hyden out-lasted 13th-seeded Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson of France 2-1 (20-22, 21-14, 15-13) in 48 minutes.
UP NEXT
The final four FIVB World Tour qualifying events begin with a stop next week in Turkey (Antalya, 10-15 followed by events in the United States (Cincinnati, May 17-22), Moscow (May 24-29) and Germany (Hamburg, June 7-12). Also counting towards Olympic qualification will be the European championships June 1-5 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.