SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World CHAMIONSHIPS 2011 – ROMA – The courts on Fire !

Another Hot day in Rome and not only because the sun, most of the matches on all the courts was very interesting to follow. Most of the Top seeded are still on the road but we had great surprises too.

Kessy/Ross, who defeated Juliana/Larissa in the 2009 FIVB Swatch World Championships in Stavanger, Norway, needed just two sets on Thursday to defeat Canada’s 39th-seeded Heather Bansley/Elizabeth Maloney, 21-14, 21-14 in 39 minutes.

Juliana/Larissa advanced Thursday with their 21-16, 21-14 victory in 35 minutes over Switzerland’s 46th-seeded Tanja Goricanec/Muriel Graessli. The Brazilians are the three-time reigning FIVB Swatch World Tour champions with a silver medal, bronze and another silver medal in the last three FIVB Swatch World Championships.

In their win over Bansley/Maloney, Kessy was credited with 18 attacks, 11 kills, six digs and one block and Ross recorded 21 attacks, 11 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and one ace serve.

Following their first round win over the Canadians, Ross commented, “Last time we played them in Thailand (Nov. 2010), we lost to them so it put us on edge a little bit today. We knew they were a good team. We came in guns blaring because we knew they could score points with their serves. In the World Championships, you have to play as hard as you can every single match. There is no way you will take any team for granted.”

Second-seeded Brazilians Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes overcame the challenge of Czech Republic’s 44th-seeded Sona Novakova/Tereza Tobiasova, 21-19, 21-13 and 15-11 in a 53-minute match. Antonelli stats in the match included 44 attacks, 20 kills, 12 digs and two aces while Antunes tallied 36 attacks, 20 kills, 13 digs and three aces.

In a battle of two Dutch teams, Netherlands fourth-seeded Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel beat 25th-seeded compatriots Rebekka Kadijk/Merel Mooren, 21-17, 21-15 in 37 minutes.

Three-time FIVB Swatch World Champions and two-time Olympic gold medal winners Misty May Treanor/Kerri Walsh of the United States were victorious over Great Britain’s 41st-seeded Zara Dampney/Shauna Mullin, 21-13, 21-12 in 29 minutes. In their victory, May-Treanor had 24 attacks, 16 kills, 14 digs and three aces while Walsh contributed 14 attacks, 9 kills, one dig and three blocks.

Brazil’s ninth-seeded Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima were upset by USA’s 12th-seeded Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Hanson, 23-25, 20-22 in 44 minutes and USA’s 11th-seeded Angie Akers/Nicole Branagh were upset by Czech Republic’s 22nd-seeded Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, 22-24, 21-19 and 13-15 in 56 minutes.

The surprise pool winners who won again in Thursday’s first elimination round was Italy’s popular 13th-seeded Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti along with Australia’s 18th-seeded Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, and Spain’s 23rd-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez and China’s eighth-seeded Chen Xue/Xi Zhang.