Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina were the last women to secure a top spot in their groups at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships as the Russians had had an impressive win to secure the first-place of Pool K.
The Europeans bounced back from a tough 2-1 loss to Argentineans Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra on Monday to down Summer Ross and Sara Hughes 21-16, 21-18 and take the first position from the young Americans.
“We lost to the Argentineans because of all own mistakes but we did a good job in putting it behind us before this game,” Makroguzova said afterwards. “We were third in the pool and we needed this victory to get back to the top and we made a few adjustments which worked. Now we keep going and we just want to show our game to the fans here in Hamburg.”
Summer and Hughes had their first setback at the Rothenbaum Stadium against the Russians, but they are also qualified as the second-placed team of the pool.
“This was for sure our lowest moment in the tournament so far,” Summer reflected. “We had our best against China and we need to get back to that level.”
Gallay and Pereyra also move forward in the tournament despite their 21-12, 21-18 loss to China’s Meimei Lin and Jinjin Zeng on their third pool match. The Asians are out.
Joana and Anouk dominate Pool C
Swiss stars Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré were others to secure a first-place spot in their pool, C. The Europeans had put themselves in a great position to do so when they defeated Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson on Sunday and they confirmed it with a 21-15, 21-12 victory over Uruguay’s Maria Rotti and Camila Bausero.
Heather and Brandie finished second in the pool after they downed Germans Kim Behrens and Cinja Tillmann 14-21, 21-19, 15-13 at the Red Bull Beach Arena. The home team took the third and final spot in the group.
