Italians best French in A1 Major Klagenfurt battle of American collegiate standouts

Klagenfurt, Austria, July 26, 2016 – With eight teams from seven countries advancing to the women’s Main Draw at the US$800,000 A1 Major Klagenfurt here Tuesday, one of the featured qualifying matches pitted collegiate All-Americans Rebecca Diane Perry of Italy against Alexandra Jupiter of France.

Perry, a standout at the University of Washington (2007-2010), and her 21st-seeded Italian partner Laura Giombini bested Jupiter, a University of Southern California star (2008-2011), and her fifth-seeded teammate Laura Longuet 2-1 ( (21-14, 20-22, 15-10) in a 39-minute match on the Lake Wörthersee center court.

With two wins Tuesday, including an opening 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory in 35 minutes over 12th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova and Nina Herelova of the Slovak Republic, Perry and Giombini advanced from a FIVB World Tour qualifier for the first-time in eight attempts this season.  The Italians did participate in one “money” round earlier this season after receiving a “wild card” entry in Fuzhou, China.

“This is great,” said Perry, who is playing her first season on the FIVB World Tour.  “We are playing more relaxed this week.  With this event being our last tournament of the season, we worked hard with our coach (Fosco Cicola) and those practices paid off.  We have won matches in the qualifying rounds, but never when it counted in advancing to the Main Draw.”

Tuesday’s two wins improved Perry and Giombini’s qualifying record to 4-7 this season.  The …

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