Austrian, Brazilian & Norwegian Women Post Otera Open Quarter-final Wins

Teams from Austria, Brazil and Norway secured semi-final spots here Friday afternoon at the US$380,000 Otera Open with seven of the eight players in the “final four” being associated with past successes in this southern Norwegian resort city.

Highlighting the play Friday was three-straight elimination wins by Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen over teams from Italy, Germany and Australia as the ninth-seeded Norwegians rebounded from a setback Wednesday afternoon to advance to their second-straight Otera Open “final four”.

Hakedal and Torlen will also get a chance to redeem themselves against one of the players that helped defeat the Norwegians in the 2008 Otera Open title match as Maria Antonelli returns to the site of her first SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal with new partner Talita Antunes as the Brazilians advanced to Saturday’s second semi-final earlier Friday.

Saturday’s first semi-final will feature a rematch of an earlier confrontation in the third annual Otera Open as the eighth-seeded Schwaiger sisters (Doris and Stefanie) challenge top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil. On Thursday, the Schwaigers defeated the Brazilians 21-17 and 21-13 in 34 minutes. Like the Norwegians, Juliana and Larissa posted three elimination wins Friday over pairs from Germany, Austria and Brazil.

After defeating 11th-seeded Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli of Italy (21-11, 24-22, 42 minutes) and fourth-seeded Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig of Germany (21-16, 25-23, 49), Hakedal and Torlen advanced to their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final this year and sixth overall with a 21-16 and 21-13 win in 37 minutes over 20th-seeded Louise Bawden and Becchara Palmer of Australia.

After losing to the Schwaigers Thursday, Juliana and Larissa rebounded with elimination victories Friday over sixth-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany (21-17, 21-18, 45), fifth-seeded Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli of Austria (21-14, 21-16, 37) and third-seeded Vanilda Leão/Renata Ribeiro of Brazil (21-18, 21-14, 39).

Juliana and Larissa will be playing in their second Otera Open “final four” after the Brazilians won the inaugural event in 2007. The pair missed the 2008 stop due to Juliana’s knee surgery that forced her to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics with Larissa. The Brazilians will be playing in their 57th SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final as Juliana and Larissa have won five gold medals this season to increase their career total together to 26.

The Schwaigers advanced to the Otera Open “final four” for the second-straight season as the Austrians finished third in 2008 for their first-ever SWATCH FIVB World Tour medal. The Schwaigers’ 21-15 and 21-13 quarter-final victory in 38 minutes over Bawden and Palmer avenged a 21-15 and 21-15 elimination quarter-final setback in 34 minutes to the Australians last week in Poland.

Antonelli and Talita, seeded second in the 32-team Otera Open Main Draw, scored a 21-19 and 24-22 win in the quarter-finals of the winner’s bracket over Leão and Renata in 38 minutes. Leão played in the 2008 Otera Open finale with Antonelli after Renata and Talita had placed fourth at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Playing together for the first-time this season, Talita and Antonelli will be playing in their eighth semi-final this season.

The 11th SWATCH FIVB World Tour event for both women and men in 2009 continues through the weekend. The women’s “final four” matches will be Saturday with the men’s semi-finals and medal matches scheduled for Sunday as the winning teams for each gender will split the $30,000 first-place prizes.

Featuring $7.2-million in prize money, the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues through the last week of October and first week of November with the men’s final event in China and the women’s last stop in Thailand. Following the Otera Open, two more double gender events remain in Europe with stops in Finland (Aland) and The Netherlands (The Hague). The women’s last European event is a mid-September stop in Barcelona.

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