Quietly, Lili & Elsa making their mark

In 11 seasons together on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez have made their mark as the Spanish pair is one of six men’s and women’s teams that have secured their spot for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

With six wins in eight matches in September 2019 at the Olympic qualifier in China, Elsa and Liliana captured one of the two women’s berths for the Tokyo Summer Games at the Haiyang event along with Latvians Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka. Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan claimed the first women’s spot two months earlier in Germany by winning the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Germany.

“Being qualified makes all the difference in the world,” said Lili as she and Elsa will be competing in the Olympics for the third time after placing ninth at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Summer Games. In Rio, the Spaniards won their pool by defeating eventual silver medal winners and second-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas of Brazil 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) in a 44-minute match.

“We are just wishing that Tokyo can be held this year,” Lili added. “We cannot wait to play in our third Olympics! The layoff didn’t really help because it meant one more year to start over again and maybe or maybe not play the Olympics, but the postponement made perfect sense. We hope this pandemic goes away or decreases enough with the vaccines so we can travel and compete as normal as could be.”

The Elsa/Lili partnership started in 2007 when the Spanish team placed fourth at the FIVB Under-21 World Championships in Italy where 13 future Olympians were competing in the Modena event.

“We started together in 2006 in a youth programme in the Canary Islands,” said Elsa. “Lili arrived one year earlier because Danny Wood saw her playing at a junior national championship in summer 2004. This programme had support from the Spanish Sports Ministry, the Spanish National Federation & the Canarian Government. We trained all year long and we had incredibly good chemistry from the beginning.”

Elsa said the pair were also “studying at the university. So, we had a full scholarship for sports and studies. Then the programme finished for us at the end of 2008, so Danny decided to go all together apart from the program. We had already two fourth places in international competitions, but the decision was not easy, no support anymore, no apartment and no money!”

While not being able to win an FIVB World Tour or European event in their 12 seasons together, Elsa and Liliana rank as one of the most experienced teams in international beach volleyball history. Entering the 2021 campaign, the Spaniards are one of only eight women’s teams to compete 11 or more seasons on the World Tour and one of two pairs to play 12 or more campaigns on the European circuit.

With 513 matches to their credit since first playing on the international tour in 2008, Elsa and Liliana are one of five teams to play 500 or more World Tour matches since the start of the rally-scoring era in 2001 to rank behind Brazilians Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca (694 matches), the Salgado sisters (Maria Clara/Carolina, 648) and Germans Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler (553).

Elsa and Lili’s first season together on the World Tour was 2008 when the pair won seven of 15 matches for six events to rank 77th on the FIVB point’s standings. The team’s best placement was a 13th at an event in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with three wins in five matches.

The Spanish pair started their quest in 2009 to earn a spot in the London Olympics. Elsa and Liliana improved their standing on the FIVB points list to No. 31 by winning 16 of 36 matches in 11 events highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the season’s final event in Phuket, Thailand.

During the 2010-2012 time period, Elsa and Liliana continued lofty rankings on the FIVB points list as the pair compiled a three-season mark of 81-68 (54.4 winning percentage) for 35 events with their first two final four finishes on the World Tour including a 2011 fourth in Canada (Québec) and a 2012 second in Finland (Åland).

Liliana said Wood “saw our potential together in the beginning and we worked extremely hard to reach the main draws in every tournament. Year by year, we were growing fast! That’s how we reached our first Olympics in London 2012. It was kind of surprising as we were the first women team from Spain to qualify for the Summer Games. We did it and it was absolutely amazing!"

Elsa and Lili’s road to Rio saw the team post 7th, 9th, 11th and 7th rankings on the World Tour points list. The Spaniards compiled a 140-93 (60.1%) for 47 events with four more appearances in FIVB finals along with six podium placements and eight final four finishes.

While Lili took the 2017 season off to give birth to her son, Elsa played in seven World tour events with three different partners highlighted by a 17th placement at the 2017 FIVB World Championships in Vienna with Amaranta Navarro.

After reuniting in late February 2018 for the Fort Lauderdale Major in the United States, Elsa and Liliana achieved a No. 27 ranking on the FIVB points list for eight events with a 19-14 record highlighted by a fifth-place finish at Warsaw.

The Spaniards placed 11th on the World Tour points list for 2019 with a 28-19 match mark with four fifth-place finishes. After placing 17th at the Hamburg World Championships, Elsa and Liliana were third at the European Championships in Moscow followed by a fifth at the FIVB World Tour Finals in Rome.

In the record book, Elsa and Liliana are fifth all-time in World Tour events played with 119 to rank behind three sister combinations (Nystroms, 150; Salgados, 134; and Schwaigers, 123) and legendary Brazilians Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar (120).

Counting both FIVB and European events, Elsa and Liliana have combined to compete in 148 tournaments with a 371-266 match mark (58.2%) with nearly US$1-million in earnings. The Spaniards have reached 16 podiums, competed in 22 final fours and appeared in 46 quarterfinals.

When asked why the partnership was successful, Elsa said “we have always had a good relationship inside and outside the court, with our ups and downs of course. But we’ve always had the same goals and worked together to reach them. And our commitment to ourselves and with the team and goals is always strong."

As for memorable moments, the Spaniards list events in 2013 at the European Championships, 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games and 2019 at the FIVB Olympic qualifying event where Elsa and Liliana played matches against home-standing teams from Austria, Brazil and China, respectively.

“The first was the 2013 European final in 2013 against the Austrian sisters Schwaiger (Doris and Stefanie),” said Liliana. “It was an amazing match and atmosphere in Klagenfurt. We wish we could always play in stadiums like that!”

The second memorable match was in Rio Olympic pool play where Elsa and Liliana defeated Agatha and Barbara. “Everybody was cheering for the Brazilians and it was pretty impressive having everybody against us,” added Elsa.

After defeating China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia 2-1 (11-21, 21-17, 15-11) for their third of six wins in the 2019 Olympic qualifier in Haiyang, Elsa and Liliana secured their Tokyo tickets by defeating Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 2-0 (22-20, 25-23) and Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Wojtasik of Poland 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) before outlasting Germans Sandra Ittlinger / Chantal Laboureur 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-10).

“The match against the Germans was very tough,” said Liliana. “We were very tired because of the competition system; we played a lot of long games and it was tough mentally. We were in a good position on the Olympic provisional ranking list but having directly the ticket, why not?! So, we had to focus really hard on the game and opponents. We were really shaking before the warmup, we hugged. But probably that helped us to take out the pressure, focus on the game and think about it and not other things. So, this win was also especially important!”

As for tough teams, the Spaniards listed Humana-Paredes/Pavan, Alix Klineman/April Ross of the United States and Agatha/Eduarda “Duda" Lisboa. “Each of those teams is ranked 1-2-3 in the world,” said Elsa. “They all have great blockers, great defensive players and are very constant with their play.’

With the layoff from competition due to the pandemic, Liliana said “2020 was a weird year with the quarantines, training at home, restrictions for traveling or training. But the situation in Tenerife is much better than in the mainland. We are so lucky to have had teams in December for training (Dutch, German) and now in January Maki & Bara! Since 2021 doesn’t look that great right now, we are lucky to have qualified already for the Olympics, which makes everything much easier I would say.”

Read more: Roster 100 to showcase stars of volleyball and beach volleyball

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