FIVB Itapema: Ross-Klineman win women’s gold, Mol-Sorum take men’s
After Friday there were five American teams left in Brazil at the FIVB four-star Itapema Open, but by Saturday’s semifinals just one remained.
And that team of April Ross and Alix Klineman beat Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes 25-23, 18-21, 15-10 on Sunday in the women’s final. Ross and Klineman won $20,000.
Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum also made $20,000 when they won the men’s title with a tough 21-19, 28-26 victory over Grzegorz Fijalek and Michal Bryl of Poland.
The gold medal marked the third FIVB title for Ross and Klineman and was a similar result to the AVP Huntington Beach, when the pair also beat the Canadians for gold two weeks ago.
“Every victory is important, but this counts for more,” Klineman told the FIVB. “We want to send a message and we want to be consistently the best. This match was very different from the last one in the style of play, it was a tough one. It’s always like this against them and we’re just grateful we managed to come out on top.”
The women’s bronze went to Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, who beat Joy Stubbe and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands 21-19, 17-21, 22-20. The men’s bronze was won Steven van de Velde and Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands when Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak forfeited.
Click here for the week’s complete women’s results from BVBinfo.com, and click here for the complete men’s results.
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