Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 - Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez entered the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the longest-tenured partnership in the quadrennial and the Spaniards’ experience paid dividends as they posted an opening Pool B win over Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug of Argentina here Saturday mid-day.
One of six men’s and women’s teams in the competition that played in the London 2012 Olympic Games, Elsa and Liliana posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) win in 42 minutes over Gallay and Klug. It was the 11th international match between the two teams with the Spaniards now holding an 8-3 edge.
With the Rio Olympics being their 97th FIVB-sanctioned event and the Spaniards’ 235th win in 420 matches, Elsa and Liliana were never challenged seriously in the first set as they broke from a 5-4 advantage by scoring 16 of the last 23 points of the set.
Gallay, who competed in the London Olympics with Virginia Zonta, and Klug jumped to a 5-1 advantage in the second set before the Spaniards tied it at 6-6. The Argentineans’ last lead in the set was 18-17 before Elsa and Liliana regained the edge at 19-18. An Elsa kill and an Argentina error ended the match.
The two teams return to action Monday with the Spaniards playing Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of Czech Republic and the Argentineans challenging Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas of Brazil, the reigning FIVB world champions.
