Spain’s Fernandez/Baqueriza lead six 3-0 women’s duos to elim rounds at FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam

Long Beach, Calif., USA, August 25, 2016 — It took a win in a match between a pair of Olympic teams, but Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo prevailed to win their third of three pool play matches Thursday to advance with a first-round bye to the elimination rounds of the internationally-televised ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball that features the $800,000 FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam being held in Long Beach, Calif.The 2016 FIVB World Tour regular season is concluding in the United States with the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball that started Tuesday and runs through Sunday on a colorful purpose-built venue at Alamitos Beach adjacent to Marina Green Park on East Shoreline Drive.While the women played the last of three pool play matches Wednesday, the men in the 32-team, double-gender tournament played the last two of their three pool play matches. After Thursday’s final pool play matches the top three teams in each of six four-person pools have advanced to the single-elimination ‘knockout rounds’ on Friday and Saturday with the medal matches in both genders being played on Sunday.Friday’s schedule will see the women play three elimination rounds, the round of 24, round of 16 and the quarterfinals. On Friday, the men will play two rounds, the round of 24 and the round of 16.Back from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where they finished ninth, Spain’s likeable Fernandez/Baquerizo came back strong after dropping the first set to defeat Swiss seventh-seeded Olympians Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, 19-21, 21-14 and 15-8 in just 46 minutes. Switzerland’s Forrer/Verge-Depre also finished ninth in Brazil last week. With the victory, Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo increased their lead in the series between the two FIVB World Tour regulars to 5-1.While this is the fourth consecutive year that the FIVB World Tour has stopped in Long Beach, Calif., the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball featuring the $800,000 FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam is the 22nd men’s event of the season and 19th women’s event on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015.SPAIN SPEAKSPlaying in their 98th FIVB World Tour event as a team, Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo earned their bye in the round of 24 on Friday with two additional pool play wins on Wednesday over teams from the USA and Venezuela. The Spaniards have now played in all four ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball with finishes of ninth place in 2013, fourth place in 2014 and fifth place in 2015.Afterwards, Baquerizo commented, “We had to come from behind and we played better defense after the first set. Liliana had some great plays at the night, I got some digs and we both served pretty well. We came here from Rio disappointed with a ninth-place finish and we are working hard to do better than that here in Long Beach. We really enjoy coming to the USA to play. We won the bronze medal at the FIVB Cincinnati Open in May so it obviously agrees with us here in America.” ASICS WSOVBWhile the cornerstone of the …

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