Article courtesy of Volleyball Australia.
Both Australian beach volleyball teams have earnt their spots in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games semi finals.
Chris McHugh and Paul Burnett were the first Aussies on the court in Smithfield, matching up against Sri Lanka’s Malintha/Ashen.
Burnett and McHugh had to fight back, after a tough loss in the first set. But the Aussies were determined, pulling it back in the second set before going on to dominate the third.
In the end, the Aussies claimed the win 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-9), claiming their semi finals berth.
“They came out well, and served short, which makes it difficult to run our offense,” McHugh said.
“But once we got the nerves out of the way, we were able to build our way into the match.
“We’re just really happy to get through to the next round, and focused on our semi tomorrow,” he said.
Gold Coast 2018 silver medalists Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy delivered another strong performance against Scotland to book their semi finals ticket.
Artacho del Solar and Clancy were dominant, despite a slow start in the first set, they claimed 12 straight points before going on to win in straight sets 2-0 (21-11, 21-11).
“It usually takes us the first two ends for us to figure out a team like Scotland,” Artacho del Solar said.
“We’ve had many of those moments, so we can use our experiences to help us through.
“We knew that we just had to stay really patient, we trusted ourselves and we did a really good job at that and that’s what got us through,” she said.
The Australian teams will return to the court on Saturday 6 August for the semi finals, with the times to be confirmed.
McHugh/Burnett (AUS) v Venuste/Olivier (RWA)
Clancy/Artacho del Solar (AUS) v Pata/Toko (VAN)
