Prior to the start of play Tuesday at the inaugural international Beach Volleyball event in the Netherlands, only host country pairs from Brazil, China and Russia advanced teams from the qualifier this season. Brasília and Shanghai were the first two events on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar while the Moscow event was held in July.
Except for the world championships in Norway where there was no Qualification Tournament, host countries teams have failed to advance from the preliminary rounds at SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in Japan, Korea, Switzerland, France, Austria, Poland, Norway and last week in Finland as The Hague Open Beach Volleyball 2009 is the 13th stop for women this season.
Tuesday’s success by Meppelink and Wiltens will give The Netherlands four teams in The Hague Open Beach Volleyball 2009 for only the second-time in the 18-year history of the women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour. There were four Dutch women’s teams in the Main Draw at the 1996 FIVB event in Ostende, Belgium.
The teams of Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Danielle Remmers/Michelle Stiekema and Merel Mooren/Marloes Wesselink will also be in the Main Draw for The Netherlands as 19th-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine van der Vlist missed qualifying for the host country after dropping a 21-10, 18-21 and 15-7 decision to third-seeded Susan Blundell and Anna Scarlett of New Zealand in 41 minutes.
With 19 teams in the qualifier, 19-year old Meppelink and 22-year old Wiltens had to play only one match as the Dutch women scored a victory over eighth-seeded Jill Jasbar and Sabine Swoboda of Austria. After losing the first set to the Austrians, Meppelink and Wiltens won the second set 21-18 and were leading 11-7 in the deciding set when Swoboda retired from the match due to a nose injury.
Meppelink and Wiltens are now two-for-two in SWATCH qualifiers as the Dutch women also advanced to the Main Draw rounds earlier this month in Poland with two preliminary match wins in Stare Jablonki highlighted by a three-set elimination victory over the top-seeded Nystrom sisters (Emilia and Erika) of Finland.
Joining Meppelink and Wiltens with seed-break-through wins to advance to the opening “money” rounds Wednesday of The Hague Open Beach Volleyball 2009 were 11th-seeded Claudinere Bento Sabino and Barbara Seixas of Brazil and the 18th-seeded Fabjan sisters (Erika and Simona) of Slovenia.
After winning two County Quota matches Monday, Neide and Seixas advanced to their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour Main Draw together by eliminating sixth-seeded Nadia Campisi and Clara Lozano of Spain 21-8, 21-19 in 35 minutes. Playing in their first SWATCH event together, the Fabjans posted the biggest break-through Tuesday by defeating second-seeded Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin of Great Britain 17-21, 21-13 and 19-17 in 49 minutes.
Leading Tuesday’s qualifiers were the Nystrom sisters as the top-seeded Fins advanced by ousting 17th-seeded Sarka Nakladalova and Stepanka Stastna of the Czech Republic 21-7 and 21-5 in 23 minutes. Other teams advancing as expected were fourth-seeded Chrisi Gschweidl/Cornelia Rimser of Austria, fifth-seeded Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic and Tora Hansson/Camilla Nilsson of Sweden.
The Hague Open Beach Volleyball 2009 competition Tuesday also featured the men’s Country Quota playoff matches. While the men will be qualifying for the “money” rounds Wednesday, the women’s Main Draw will start with a 32-team double-elimination Main Draw bracket competition.
Situated at Hommerson Beachstadion on the most popular beach in The Netherlands, The Hague Open Beach Volleyball 2009 concludes with the women’s semi-finals and medal matches Saturday followed by the men’s “final four” rounds the next day. The winning women’s and men’s teams will each split the $30,000 first-place prizes.
