After winning a pair of matches in Thursday’s qualifier in Sofia, Belgians Sarah Cools and Lisa van den Vonder secured a couple more victories in Friday’s main draw to top their pool and make it to the quarterfinals of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour one-star event played in the Bulgarian capital.
The 24-year-old Cools and the 22-year-old Van den Vonder played six sets on Friday, but won matches against teams from Ukraine and Canada to finish at the top of pool D and advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament played at the Sofia Beach Club.
The Belgians started their pool campaign with a 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 17-15) victory over Anhelina Khmil and Tetiana Lazarenko and repeated the three-set (17-21, 21-19, 15-13) win against Sophie Bukovec and Camille Saxton a few hours later.
Estonians Heleene Hollas and Liisa Soomets also came from the qualifier to top their pool C, as they downed Cyprus’ Daria Gusarova and Erika Nystrom 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-10) and New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Alice Zeimann in straight sets (21-19, 21-13) to remain undefeated in Sofia.
Top-seeded Claudia Scampoli and Margherita Bianchin of Italy were also unharmed on the first day of the main draw in Sofia as they claimed a pool A victory with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) triumph over Bulgaria’s Emileta Racheva and Iveta Stanchulova and a two-set (21-16, 21-14) victory against Austria’s Franziska Friedl and Eva Pfeffer.
Pool B winners were Ukrainians Inna Makhno and Anna Shumeiko, who opened the day with a straight-set (21-16, 21-17) win over the home team of Svetla Angelova and Irena Mishonova and ended it with another two-setter (21-17, 21-15), this one against Austrian sisters Dorina and Ronja Klinger.
Saturday’s schedule in Sofia features the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals while the semifinals and medal matches in Bulgaria will be played on Sunday.
Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Sofia Beach Open 3
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
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