Olympic women’s pairs win 15 A1 Major Klagenfurt matches Wednesday

Klagenfurt, Austria, July 27, 2016 – While American “wild card” entries Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes were capturing the headlines with a pair of wins over Rio-bound pairs, the 12 Copacabana Olympic teams combined for a 15-9 record at the US$800,000 A1 Major Klagenfurt here Wednesday.

A! Major Klagenfurt Pool C features three Copacabana contestants as third-seeded Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska of Poland won both of their matches Wednesday highlighted by a 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 18-16) win in 40 minutes over Ekaterina Birlova and Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia.

The two teams will meet August 9 in Rio in an Olympic Pool A match.  Wednesday’s victory snapped a three-game losing streak to the Russians for Brzostek and Kolosinska, who trail Birlova and Ukolova in the FIVB World Tour head-to-head 3-2.

While Brzostek and Kolosinska opened play Wednesday with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 29 minutes over 30th-seeded qualifiers Laura Giombini and Rebecca Perry of Italy, Birlova and Ukolova posted a 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) victory in 37 minutes over 14th-seeded Rio Olympic qualifiers Mariafe Artacho and  Nicole Laird of Australia.

The Poles close out pool play Thursday morning against Artacho and Laird while Birlova and Ukolova play Giombini and Perry.  Brzostek and Kolosinska can clinch the Klagenfurt Pool C title by defeating the Australians or by finishing with a better point ratio than the winner of the Italy-Russia match. …

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