The dynamic and charismatic pairing to Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artacho from Australia put up great show on the sands of Myslowice, Poland. The Aussies posted 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-7) victory over USA’s Lara Dykstra/ Jace Pardon in the final showdown of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships.
The winning duo settled for gold and received great amount of applause from fans all over the world. The American team played a clever game with cuts and dinks around Laird’s big block and pushed the Australians to the limit.
“We knew it was going to be tough, USA always comes to play”, said Artacho, who added a second medal to her bronze at the Junior World Champs in 2012. “They are very competitive, we knew it was going to be a three-setter.”
USA fought back strong after dropping the opening set and pushed the match into a tiebreak. “We dropped concentration a bit, made a few errors”, said Laird about the second set. “But USA leapt into the game as well. All credit where there is credit due. But we were prepared for a long game.”
With strong serving and placed attacks down the line Artacho made the difference in the third set. At the first Australian set point Laird scored the winning point with her serve.
“Mariafe has a little bit of magic in her back pocket”, said Laird about her partner. “She’s had that her whole volleyball career and I never get stressed in the back of the sets, because I feel save that she will pull something out. It was a fight, but we got back.”
The winning duo settled for gold and received great amount of applause from fans all over the world. The American team played a clever game with cuts and dinks around Laird’s big block and pushed the Australians to the limit.“We knew it was going to be tough, USA always comes to play”, said Artacho, who added a second medal to her bronze at the Junior World Champs in 2012. “They are very competitive, we knew it was going to be a three-setter.”
USA fought back strong after dropping the opening set and pushed the match into a tiebreak. “We dropped concentration a bit, made a few errors”, said Laird about the second set. “But USA leapt into the game as well. All credit where there is credit due. But we were prepared for a long game.”
With strong serving and placed attacks down the line Artacho made the difference in the third set. At the first Australian set point Laird scored the winning point with her serve.
“Mariafe has a little bit of magic in her back pocket”, said Laird about her partner. “She’s had that her whole volleyball career and I never get stressed in the back of the sets, because I feel save that she will pull something out. It was a fight, but we got back.”
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