Brazil’s Eduarda/Elize win two pool play rounds at FIVB Fortaleza Open

Fortaleza, Brazil, April 28, 2016 — Brazil’s fifth-seeded Eduarda Lisboa and Elize Maia were impressive Thursday in winning their first two of three pool play matches as the women’s main draw began at this week’s double-gender $150,000 FIVB Fortaleza Open, which marks the first time since 2007 that the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour has played in Fortaleza. The double-gender $150,000 FIVB Fortaleza Open started Tuesday and concludes on Sunday. It is the 11th men’s event of the season and eighth women’s event on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015. The FIVB Fortaleza Open is being played at the purpose built stadium at Praia do Futuro in Fortaleza, site of last week’s season finale of the Brazilian National Tour.On Thursday, Brazil’s Eduarda/Elize opened pool play in impressive fashion by defeating Venezuela’s 28th-seeded Rebeca Pazo/Gabriel Brito in straight sets, 21-10, 21-8 in only 23 minutes. In their second match, Eduarda/Elize toppled Czech Republic’s 21st-seeded Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova, 21-13, 21-16 in 29 minutes.On Friday morning, Brazil’s Eduarda/Elize complete pool play by challenging Germany’s 12th seeded Isabel Schneider/Teresa Mersmann, also 2-0 in their pool in pool-deciding early-morning match. Both teams will then advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds of the tournament.ELIZE ENCOURAGEDFollowing her team’s second match Elize was encouraged by her team’s performance. “We played very good today. Duda has earned many achievements in age group tournament, that helps a lot on court, as she has the will to win. I have been helping her with some difficulties that she might have on the professional level. She needs to leave her comfort zone, so I am pushing her out of it. She is really talented and skillful. We have an amazing chemistry. She talks during the matches, we communicate a lot. And I am a listener, so we can find a balance, I believe that this is the key to our success. Plus her amazing talent and was evident in both matches today. She is only 17 and we won an FIVB World Tour gold medal this year in Maceio.”FORTALEZA SCHEDULEThe FIVB Fortaleza Open is a double-gender event with 31 main draw teams for men and 28 for women. For …

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