World Champions square off against surprising Russians in quarterfinals

Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2016 - 2015 World Champions, Brazil's Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas square off against the lowest seed in the Olympics, Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia in a quarterfinal match on day nine.  The Russians have won two of the three meetings in FIVB World Tour competition, but their wins were in 2012 while the Brazilians won the only match in 2016. The winner will advance to the semi-finals, and the loser will be eliminated with a 5th-place finish.

Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova have won two of the three meetings between the two teams, but their wins were in 2012

• Bednarczuk/Seixas won 21-8, 20-22, and 15-13 in 53 minutes, Maceió Open, Round of 16, 02/26/2016

• Birlova/Ukolova won 21-13, 20-22, and 15-13 in 59 minutes, Bangsaen Open, Semi-finals, 10/27/2012

• Birlova/Ukolova won 22-24, 21-16, and 15-11 in 64 minutes, Sanya Open, Contender's Bracket Round 1, 04/26/2012

The #2 seed and the #24 seed have never met in the Olympic Games.

• Agatha and Barbara began playing together for the 2012 season but played with different partners in 2013. They are playing in their 41st FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 73rd), four gold medals, and $699,200 career winnings (ranks 14th).

• Agatha: June 22, 1983 (33y1m23d), 182 cm (6'0"), 70 kg (155 lbs.), Hometown Curitiba, 96th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 65th), four gold medals,  $472,300 career winnings (ranks 26th)

• Barbara: August 3, 1987 (29y0m11d), 178 cm (5'10"), 67 kg (149 lbs.), Hometown Rio de Janeiro, 55th FIVB World Tour event, four gold medals, $413,500 career winnings (ranks 35th)

• Agatha has played in 19 FIVB World Tour final fours with four gold, seven silver, six bronze medals and two 4th place finishes.

• Barbara has played in 17 FIVB World Tour final fours with four gold, six silver and seven bronze medals.

• Agatha and Barbara have played in nine Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Gold Prague Open 2015, Silver Stavanger Major 2015, Gold St. Petersburg Grand Slam 2015, Gold World Championships 2015, Silver Yokohama Grand Slam 2015, Silver Rio de Janeiro Open 2015, Bronze World Tour Finals 2015, Bronze Maceió Open 2016, Silver Hamburg Major 2016).

• Agatha and Barbara won the gold medal in the FIVB World Championships in  2015 (The Hague).

• Agatha finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Sandra Pires in 2005 (Berlin) and 17th with Maria Antonelli in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).

• Barbara won the bronze medal in the FIVB World Championships with Liliane Maestrini in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).

• Agatha and Barbara are currently ranked 20th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,800 points and 12th in winnings with $97,000.

• Agatha and Barbara have a career 164-54 (75.2%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 90-22 (80.4%) record in 2015-16. Excluding forfeits, they are 125-27 (82.2%) in two sets and 37-26 (58.7%) in three sets, including 139-10 (93.3%) when winning the 1st set and 23-43 (34.8%) when losing the 1st set.

• Barbara won silver medals at the U18 World Championships with Carolina Salgado in 2003 (Pattaya, Thailand) and 2004 (Termoli, Italy).

• Barbara won gold medals at the U19 World Championships with Carolina Aragao in 2005 (Saint Quay Portrieux, France) and 2006 (Myslowice, Poland).

• Barbara won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Liliane Maestrini in 2007 (Modena, Italy).

• Barbara was named the FIVB World Tour Top Rookie in 2012.

• Pool B: Defeated Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic (23), 19-21, 21-17, and 15-11 in 57 minutes.

• Pool B: Defeated Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, Argentina (14), 21-11 and 21-17 in 37 minutes.

• Pool B: Lost to Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, Spain (11), 17-21 and 20-22 in 44 minutes.

• Round of 16: Defeated Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China (15), 21-12 and 21-16 in 38 minutes.

• Ekaterina: August 11, 1987 (29y0m3d), 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 (27y2m28d), 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 132-104 (55.9%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 56-47 (54.4%) record in 2015-16. Excluding forfeits, they are 81-62 (56.6%) in two sets and 46-42 (52.3%) in three sets, including 106-22 (82.8%) when winning the 1st set and 21-82 (20.4%) when losing the 1st set.

• 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.

• Pool A: Lost to Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil (1), 14-21 and 16-21 in 34 minutes.

• Pool A: Lost to Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland (12), 19-21 and 18-21 in 39 minutes.

• Pool A: Defeated Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States (13), 21-18, 24-26, and 15-13 in 59 minutes.

• Lucky Loser: Defeated Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic (23), 21-19, 12-21, and 15-10 in 43 minutes.