Two of the three Swiss teams made it through the first qualifying round of the Beach Volleyball World Cup, and also reached the round of 16 in the World Cup.
The nominally stronger Swiss duo, Tanja Huberle and Nina Brunner, confidently overcame Poland’s Jagoda Gruszynska/Aleksandra Wachowicz in the round of 16 of the Beach Volleyball World Cup in Mexico on Thursday night.
At 21:16 and 21:14, the Swiss only showed difficulty in the first set, when they temporarily trailed by 4 points. European champions Huberli/Brunner dominated the second set from the start.
bobner/g. Vergé-Dépré attends
The match between Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré was more competitive. The No. 17 seeded duo defeated Frenchwoman Lisanna Placet/Alexia Richard 26:24, 21:16. In the first round, the Swiss had to fend off three set points before Esme Bubner made the decision with an ace. From the middle of the second set, the Swiss took control and achieved victory.
In the round of 16, Bubner/Fergie-Deprey will take on No. 4-seeded Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandi Wilkerson on Friday night from 4 a.m. Meanwhile, Huberle/Brunner will face No. 15 Julia Scholes/Betsy Flint of the USA (both live on SRF).
Italian women are very strong
On the other hand, Anouk Verge-Debré and Joanna Mader were forced to bury their title dreams in the round of 16. The third Swiss duo lost to Valentina Gottardi/Marta Menegatti from Italy in two sets 20:22, 15:21.
In the first round, Vergé-Dépré/Mäder managed to hold on well for a long time. They led until 16:15 before Gottardi/Menegatti scored 3 straight points. Although the Swiss got within 20:20, the Italians shortly afterwards used their first ball to make it 22:20.
The Swiss duo was unable to recover from this setback. In total, the Olympic bronze medalists in Tokyo made 15 errors. Vergé-Dépré/Mäder’s World Cup adventure ended abruptly after a flawless group stage.
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