**Sorry for the delay in posting this match report.
Phuket, Thailand, November 7, 2010 – American Kerri Walsh won her 39th career SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal, part of a history-filled medal day in the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT. Along with partner Nicole Branagh, the U.S. team defeated surprise opponent Marta Menegatti and Valeria Rosso of Italy, 21-23, 21-14, 15-11. Carolina and Maria Clara Salgado of Brazil won the bronze medal match by defeating The Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer and Marlene Van Iersel, 21-17, 21-14.
The title gives Walsh sole possession of the all-time lead in wins, having been tied with long-time partner Misty May-Treanor with 38 since the end of the 2008 season, the last time Walsh competed internationally before last week. This week Walsh partnered with Branagh for the third time ever, and two of their events have produced wins, having also won in Dubai in 2008. She missed the entire 2009 season and all but two events this year due to giving birth to boys in May 2009 and 2010.
“It feels like a new world to me because all that I have accomplished is so far behind me,” Walsh said. “This win is so special to me; it’s my first win as a mother of two. I would feel better about it if I had played better in the last match. I’m bummed I let the nerves get to me. I’ve played some big matches in big settings, but today I was nervous.”
The fourth-seeded Americans became just the fourth women’s team to win a SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal after winning five elimination matches. They had lost in the second round to Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain, but then swept six straight opponents before the title match. In the gold medal tiebreaker set, the USA led just 5-4 when they went on a 6-2 run to gain control at 11-6.
Menegatti and Rosso were the first Italian team to ever compete in a gold medal match, as only five other times has an Italian duo advanced to the semifinals and just once before had Italy won a medal (a bronze in 2001). The 16th-seeded duo became partners during the week preceding last week’s tournament in Sanya, China, due to an injury to Menegatti’s regular partner, Greta Cicolari. Menegatti plans on competing next year with Cicolari, while Rosso will reunite with her usual partner Elisa Cella. Menegatti, who is 20 years old, and Rosso lost their first round match of the tournament and were nearly eliminated in their next match, the first of six contender’s bracket matches they had to win in order to reach the semifinals. No team in the 19-year history of SWATCH FIVB World Tour volleyball has any team rebounded from a first-round loss to win the event.
“We really came here to win gold, it was not enough to just be here,” Rosso said. “We made it this far due to our service game, but today we weren’t serving very well. I feel like we both grew up a lot here.”
The Brazilian Salgado sisters defeated the top-seeded team in Phuket and suffered just one loss in the tournament, but the semifinal defeat at the hands of the Italians prevented them from playing for the gold medal. Instead, the eighth-seeded team finished the season just as they had begun it – with a bronze medal. The Salgados defeated Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands 21-17, 21-14 to win their third bronze of the year and ninth career medal.
“I would have liked it to end a little better, but it’s nice to get a bronze,” said Maria Clara. “It’s a big step for us to finish the way we did the last two events (placed fourth in Sanya). We were tired, we have domestic events every other week in Brazil and we have to go right back for the next one. The high finish means we shouldn’t have to play in the country quota next season.”
Keizer and Van Iersel, seeded 11th in Phuket, had defeated the second and third seeded teams in the competition before losing to Branagh and Walsh in the semifinals. Entering the bronze medal match the Dutch team had won three of the four meetings with the Salgados. The match-up featured two of the tour’s top servers, as the Van Iersel and Maria Clara are 1-2 on the year in terms of fastest serves recorded.
The four teams in the medal matches were from four different countries, which is a rarity on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Since 1992 that has only happened 20 times, yet one of those occurrences was just last week in Sanya, China. This season only three different countries have won a gold medal on the tour, as Brazil was responsible for nine titles, while both China and the United States won three. In the five-year history of events in Phuket, the Americans have now won the last four titles, with Walsh also winning with May-Treanor in 2007 and Jen Kessy and April Ross claiming the titles in 2008 and 2009.
With the 2010 Phuket Thailand Open being the 15th and final stop for women on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the men’s 14-event calendar concluded at the end of August where teams from the United States dominated the men’s international Beach Volleyball competition by winning 10 events, including nine gold medal finishes for circuit champions Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers. The 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar featured 17 sites in 14 different countries with $6.83-million in prize money.
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Phuket, Thailand, November 6, 2010 – Marta Menegatti and Valeria Rosso defeated Brazilians Carolina and Maria Clara Salgado in a semifinal match in the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT to become the first Italian team to ever compete for a gold medal. Their opponents will be Americans Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh, who swept Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands in the other semifinal.
Menegatti and Rosso were probably the least likely team to reach the gold medal match given that that they hadn’t played together before last week and that no Italian team has ever played in a gold medal match. In fact, Menegatti was signed up with a different partner and Rosso had no plans on competing here. But Rosso set out her goals early in the tournament.
“I told Marta ‘We lost in the first match, now let’s go for a medal’,” Rosso recalled.
After losing the opening match on Thursday, the 16th-seeded Italians had to win six straight elimination matches to reach the semifinals. Twice the duo lost the first set and then had to come back to win the next two sets to stay alive. Including the semifinals, Menegatti and Rosso have played eight matches in three days, with wins over three teams seeded eighth or better. On Saturday morning the Italians defeated Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine van der Vlist of The Netherlands, 21-15, 21-19 and then swept second-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany, 21-19, 21-19.
In the semifinal match against the eighth-seeded Salgado sisters, a tiebreaker set was needed after Italy won the first set 24-22 but Brazil replied with a 22-20 victory. Only one point separated the teams in the third set early on, but with the scored tied 5-5, Italy scored six of the next seven points to stretch the lead to 11-7. In that span Menegatti scored a point following one of her digs, and then got back-to-back aces. Italy clinched their semifinal win with a 15-12 decision.
“It’s fantastic to be the first Italian team playing for the gold medal,” said the 20-year old Menegatti. “We didn’t expect that but we did our best to get here. We always fight, and tomorrow we want to win.”
The Italians finished in seventh place last week in Sanya, China after having practiced together just two days before that event. Menegatti’s regular partner, Greta Cicolari, is injured and Rosso stepped in at the last minute to take her place. Cicolari and Menegatti had a fourth-place finish last year, one of just six semifinal appearances for Italy in the history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Italy has only won one medal, a bronze in 2001, but is guaranteed it’s second on Sunday.
Branagh and Walsh are playing together for just the third time, having won an event in 2008 before placing fifth last week. Walsh is looking to over sole possession on the all-time victory list on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, as she and long-time partner Misty May-Treanor each have 38 career titles. And like the Italians, their path to the title match was not easy. Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain defeated the Americans in the second round, so Branagh and Walsh have now also played eight matches in three days. Branagh and Walsh, seeded fourth, defeated third-seeded Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria 21-16, 21-12 on Saturday morning. Then the U.S. was able to get redemption for their second-round loss, as a rematch with the Spaniards went in the Americans’ favor 21-12, 21-19.
In the semifinal match against Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands, Branagh and Walsh recorded their sixth straight sweep since losing to Spain. The U.S won 21-16, 24-22 to secure a spot in the gold medal match. Keizer and Van Iersel had been undefeated in tournament play up to that point, as were the Salgado sisters, so the semifinal match was just their fifth match in the three days. On Friday the 11th-seeded team from The Netherlands was able to defeat both the second and third-seeded teams in the competition.
Both Branagh and Walsh have already won two medals in Phuket. In the first year of competition here in 2006, Walsh won a bronze and then followed that up with a gold in 2007 after beating Branagh. Branagh won her second silver in 2008, and neither player was here last year. The United States leads all countries having won seven of the 12 medals in Phuket, including placing 1-2 in the last three Karon Beach finales. Italy joins China and the U.S. as the only countries to play in any of the Phuket title matches.
The four teams in the medal matches are from four different countries, which is a rarity on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Since 1992 that has only happened 20 times, yet one of those occurrences was just last week in Sanya, China. This season only three different countries have won a gold medal on the tour, as Brazil was responsible for nine titles, China three and the United States two.
source:fivb.org
