Olsztyn, Poland, July 21, 2017 - Eight women’s teams from six countries earned quarterfinal berths here Friday after winning elimination matches at the $300,000 the Warmia Mazury Olsztyn Open as the FIVB World Tour returns to the Lake Ukiel venue for the third-straight season.
With this week’s international Beach volleyball stop being a preview for next weekend’s opening pool play rounds in the 2017 FIVB World Championships, all eight pairs have qualified for the $1-million event where play begins next Friday in the August capital of Vienna and concludes August 5 for women and August 6 for men.
Brazil and the United States qualified two teams each for the quarter-finals with pairs from Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland also advancing to the “elite eight” where Saturday’s schedule for women will conclude with the semi-finals to set the line-up for the medal matches where the winning team will share the $20,000 first-place prize.
The quarter-finals matches in the top-half of the Warmia Mazury Olsztyn Open bracket features two Brazilian teams, including top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca and fourth-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa. Talita and Larissa will play second-seeded Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude from Germany with 13th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova of the Czech Republic meeting Agatha and Duda.
In the bottom-half of the bracket, third-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada meets Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland while ninth-seeded Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat play 24th-seeded qualifiers Nicole Branagh/Kerri Walsh Jennings in an All-American quarter-final confrontation.
