The Hague, The Netherlands, June 30, 2015 - Women’s teams from Brazil and Spain joined the top-seeded Madelein Meppelink and Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands as pool winners on the sand of The Hofvijver stadium court in the 2015 FIVB “senior” World Championships.
Eighth-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain and ninth-seeded Fernanda Alves/Taiana Lima of Brazil also protected their lofty ranking in their pools by defeating pairs from Australia and Switzerland, respectively, here Tuesday to maintain playing on The Hofvijver stadium court for the opening elimination rounds Wednesday along with the Dutch.
The Spaniards captured Pool H by posting a 2-0 (21-13, 21-19) win in 38 minutes over 17th-seeded Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy of Australia in the seventh FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams and the first confrontation this season between the two pairs. Baquerizo and Liliana, who won all three of their pool play matches, have now defeated the Aussies six times with their third-straight victory in the series.
Fernanda, who celebrated her 30th birthday Monday, and Lima advanced unbeaten to the elimination rounds with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) Pool I win in 39 minutes over 16th-seeded Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland. The win marked the second-straight year that the Brazilians have defeated Heidrich and Zumkehr in The Hague after posting an elimination win over the Swiss at the 2014 Dutch Grand Slam that was played on nearby Scheveningen beach.
Meppelink and Van Iersel clinched Pool A Sunday with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) win in 36 minutes over 24th-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes/Taylor Pischke of Canada. It was the Dutch’s second group victory as the first came Friday over 25th-seeded Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan. Meppelink and Van Iersel earned a forfeit win over 48th-seeded Orellana sisters of Guatemala due to a knee injury Maria A.
In other women’s matches Tuesday, 33rd-seeded Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre scored a 2-0 (21-12, 21-8) win in 29 minutes over 40th-seeded Randy Williams/Palesa Sekonyana of South Africa in Pool I after 32nd-seeded Gabriela Filippo/Michelle Valiente of Paraguay posted a 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-11) Pool H win in 52 minutes over 41st-seeded Gabriela Tomasekova/Tina Turnerova of the Slovak Republic.
Forrer and Verge-Depre finished second in Pool I with a 2-1 record while compatriots Heidrich and Zumkehr placed third with a 1-2 match mark. Filippo and Valiente’s win netted the Paraguay pair third place in Pool H with a 1-2 record behind Bawden and Clancy’s 2-1 mark. Both third-place finishers along with Mashkova and Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan must wait until the completion of pool play Tuesday afternoon to learn their rankings as only the top eight third-place finisher’s advance to the elimination rounds along with the top two teams in each group.
Pool play for the 48 teams in each gender’s competition concludes Tuesday (June 30) with the elimination rounds beginning Wednesday leading to the medal matches July 4 for women and July 5 for men. In addition to playing for the $60,000 first-place prize money, the 2015 FIVB World Championships will also reward the country with the gold medal team a berth in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.