Rio de Janeiro, August 11, 2016 - Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat of the United States will battle Russia's Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova in pool A on day six with both teams looking for their first win. The losing team will have their Olympic Games end with a 19th-place finish. The winner will finish in 3rd place in the pool and, depending on the tie-breaker, will either advance to the elimination stage or play in a "lucky loser" match to advance.
Head to Head
Fendrick/Sweat and Birlova/Ukolova have split their four meetings on the FIVB World Tour, with each winning one match in 2015 and one in 2016.
• Fendrick/Sweat won 24-22, 14-21, and 20-18 in 51 minutes, Major Hamburg, Pool Play, 06/08/2016
• Birlova/Ukolova won 21-19 and 21-17 in 38 minutes, Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam, Pool Play, 03/09/2016
• Birlova/Ukolova won 21-16 and 21-19 in 40 minutes, FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships 2015, Pool Play, 06/29/2015
• Fendrick/Sweat won 21-11, 19-21, and 15-10 in 47 minutes, Porec Major Series, Round of 16, 06/05/2015
Historically the #13 seed has won two of the three matches against the #24 seed in the Olympic Games
• Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Skalnikova (13), Czech Republic def. Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert (24), Mauritius, 21-10, 21-11 in 28 minutes, Pool Play, London (2012).
• Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam (13), Belgium def. Simone Kuhn/Lea Schwer (24), Switzerland, 21-18, 21-17 in 42 minutes, Pool Play, Beijing (2008).
• Chiaki Kusuhara/Ryo Tokuno (24), Japan def. Rebekka Kadijk/Marrit Leenstra (13), Netherlands, 15-21, 21-17, 15-13 in 58 minutes, Pool Play, Athens (2004).
Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States, Seed #13, Pool A, 0-2, 0.250 Set Ratio, 0.7609 Point Ratio, Qualified 15th with 4,470 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Lauren: March 20, 1982 (34y4m17d), 188 cm (6'2"), 75 kg (167 lbs.), Hometown Carlsbad, 90th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 77th), $300,387 career winnings (ranks 55th)
• Brooke: March 27, 1986 (30y4m10d), 173 cm (5'8"), 65 kg (144 lbs.), Hometown Fort Myers, 44th FIVB World Tour event, $165,662 career winnings
• Lauren and Brooke have been playing together since 2014. They are playing in their 30th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, $266,775 career winnings (ranks 68th).
• Lauren has played in four FIVB World Tour final fours with four 4th place finishes.
• Brooke has played in one FIVB World Tour final four with one bronze medal.
• Lauren and Brooke finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Lauren finished 33rd in the FIVB World Championships with Ashley Ivy Swift in 2009 (Stavanger), 5th with Brooke Niles in 2011 (Rome), and 5th with Brittany Hochevar in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Brooke finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Jennifer Fopma in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Lauren and Brooke are currently ranked 22nd in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,780 points and 21st in winnings with $67,775.
• Lauren and Brooke have a career 59-71 (45.4%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 42-52 (44.7%) record in 2015-16.
• Lauren and Brooke won the silver medal at the NORCECA Continental Championships in 2015 (Turtle Beach, Trinidad and Tobago)
• Lauren won gold medals on the Norceca Continental Tour with Brooke Niles in 2011 (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) and Ashley Ivy Swift in 2008 (Hacienda Bay Beach, Egypt).
• Brooke won the gold medal on the Norceca Continental Tour with Kristen Batt-Rohr in 2011 (Chiapas, Mexico), with Jennifer Fopma in 2013 (Boca Chica, Dominican Republic) and one other bronze medal with Fopma in 2013.
• Lost to Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland (12), 21-14, 13-21, and 7-15 in 45 minutes.
• Lost to Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil (1), 16-21 and 13-21 in 36 minutes.
Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova, Russia, Seed #24, Pool A, 0-2, 0.000 Set Ratio, 0.7976 Point Ratio, Qualified from Continental Cup Finals
• Ekaterina: August 11, 1987 (28y11m26d), 180 cm (5'11"), 64 kg (142 lbs.), Hometown Bryansk, 77th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $208,500 career winnings (ranks 85th)
• Evgeniya: May 17, 1989 (27y2m20d), 182 cm (6'0"), 66 kg (147 lbs.), Hometown Moscow, 109th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 46th), two gold medals, $272,512 career winnings (ranks 62nd)
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya have been playing together since 2011. They are playing in their 51st FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 53rd), two gold medals, $332,200 career winnings (ranks 48th). They have won Russia's only two FIVB World Tour gold medals.
• Ekaterina has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, one silver, one bronze medal and one 4th place finish.
• Evgeniya has played in eight FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, one silver, four bronze medals and one 4th place finish.
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya finished 9th in the Olympic Games in 2012 (London).
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2011 (Rome), 9th in 2013 (Stare Jablonki), and 9th in 2015 (The Hague).
• Evgeniya finished 37th in the FIVB World Championships with Maria Prokopeva in 2009 (Stavanger).
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya are currently ranked 23rd in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,700 points and 29th in winnings with $47,600.
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya have a career 129-104 (55.4%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 53-47 (53.0%) record in 2015-16.
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya won the silver medal at the European (CEV ) Continental Championships in 2015 (Klagenfurt, Austria).
• Evgeniya won the bronze medal at the 2014 CEV Baku Masters with Alexandra Moiseeva in 2014 (Baku, Azerbaijan).
• Ekaterina and Evgeniya and their Russian teammates were eliminated by France in the quarterfinals of the 2016 CEV Continental Cup in Stavanger, Norway. Russia received a “wild card” for the Sochi finals where Ekaterina teamed with Nadezda Makroguzova to post a 5-1 record in Sochi and Evgeniya and Anastasia Barsuk were 4-2. With a ticket to Rio at stake after Russia and Austria split their first two matches to force a “golden set”, Ekaterina and Evgeniya were reunited on the Sochi sand and posted a 15-2 win over Barbara Hansel and Stefanie Schwaiger to clinch Russia's second Olympic birth.
• Lost to Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil (1), 14-21 and 16-21 in 34 minutes.
• Lost to Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland (12), 19-21 and 18-21 in 39 minutes.