BRONZED AUSSIE VOLLEYBALLERS BEACH THE GAP AGAINST USA

VOLLEYBALL AUSTRALIA, September 6, 2012: Australia’s emerging beach volleyball stars Maria Fe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy have given Australia’s 2016 Rio Olympic hopes a huge boost, winning bronze at the 2012 FIVB Swatch Junior World Championships in Canada.

The Adelaide-based AIS pair sank the USA hopes in a thrilling three-set match in front of a capacity 3000 SEA Complex crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Australians, who are part of Volleyball Australia’s 2016 Development Program, held their nerve to defeat USA pair Sara Hughes and Summer Ross, 23-25, 21-14 and 16-14 in 48 minutes.

“It’s a great boost for our Rio hopes and it is just the result the program needed,” said Volleyball Australia’s High Performance Manager Matt Sebbens.

“They actually played a key role in assisting Nat Cook and Tamsyn Hinchley reach the London Olympics and could well signal a changing of the guard.

“The girls represent the future of the sport in Australia and victory over the US pair is a major step forward for us – the future is bright for beach volleyball.

“They have relished the increased competitive opportunities thanks to an injection of funding from the AIS, enabling a quality preparation for these World Championships which has paid off with their bronze medal.”
 
The gold went to Switzerland’s Nina Betschart and Anouk Verge-Depre who were crowned women’s world champions after beating Brazil’s seventh-seeded Drussyla Costa and Rebecca Silva in two sets, 21-16, 21-17 in a 32 minutes finale.
 
And for 18-year-old Artacho Del Solar and 20-year-old Clancy they were able to show off their power game early in the first two sets to set the scene for an emphatic victory for the 12th seeds.
 
They powered their way to a six point lead in the first two sets and a three point lead in the third against the hot shot US pairing.
 
Hughes and Ross fought back gamely in the first and final sets before the Aussie girls claimed a deserved victory.

After the Australians opened up a 15-9 opening set lead the US girls rallied to level the scores at 19-19.

Both teams lost two set-point serve opportunities before the USA pulled it out at the end to win 25-23.

But Artacho Del Solar and Clancy came out all guns blazing to dominate the Americans and take a lob-sided second set 21-14 to take the game to a third set.

In a thrilling decider the Australians held their nerve to win the bronze medal, breaking away from the 14-14 deadlock when a Hughes return landed just outside the back line to win 16-14.

It was another podium finish for the talented Clancy who won the silver medal at the 2010 FIVB SWATCH Youth World Championships in Porto, Portugal - the same event where Ross won the gold medal with Jane Croson.

It was also the same year that saw Ross set an FIVB mark by winning the gold medal in the World Junior championships in Turkey with Tara Roenicke.

The  Australians finished  with a 6-1 record in Halifax while the US pair left Halifax with a 5-2 record.

For both Australia and the USA, it was their second final four placement in the FIVB SWATCH Junior World Championships.

For Australia, it was their second medal, after their 2007 silver medal won by London Olympian Becchara Palmer with Alice Rohkamper.
 
 
Issued on behalf of Volleyball Australia by: Ian Hanson. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.