Artacho del Solar & Clancy into bronze medal match
Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar are through to the bronze medal playoff of the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Mexico.
With just under 12 months to go until the Paris Olympic Games, the Aussie duo will be chasing a podium finish as well as valuable world ranking spots ahead of Olympic qualification.
After tonight’s 0:2 (17-21, 14-21) loss to current defending World Champions Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa, the Aussies will have another opportunity for a medal in tomorrow’s match.
They are set to face USA’s Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth in tomorrow’s bronze medal playoff, in what is tipped to be a close battle.
Olympic silver medalist Clancy said while they were disappointed with tonight’s loss, they are determined to finish on a high with a bronze medal.
“Definitely disappointed at the moment, but it’s incredible that we have another opportunity tomorrow,” she said. “It’s nice that now we have the experience on the [Tlaxcala Bullring] court, we can definitely grow and be better.
“There’s more space for us to perform and another opportunity, so time to recover and reset and get on that podium,” she said.
The Aussies have faced off against the USA on a number of occasions, and Clancy said they’ll be ready for a tough encounter.
“We’ve had some really great battles against Kloth/Nuss so we definitely know that it’s going to be a long battle which I’m actually excited for,” said Clancy. “It’s awesome we have another opportunity to play here and we definitely don’t want to take that for granted.
“It feels really special to have crowds again, I feel like that’s something that me and Mariafe missed over that COVID time when we got to play in those big events so it’s really special to have the fans around and have another opportunity to be in there tomorrow.”
The Aussies will now regroup ahead of the bronze medal playoff taking on the USA on Monday 16 October at 6:15am AEDT with all action live on volleyballworld.com.
Monday 16 October Schedule – Bronze Medal Match
6:15am AEDT Clancy/Artacho del Solar (AUS) vs Nuss/Kloth (USA)
>> Head-to-head: Nuss/Kloth lead 5-3
– 22/5/22 Nuss/Kloth d Artacho del Solar/Clancy 2-1 – Challenge, Kusadasi TUR
– 3/12/22 Artacho del Solar/Clancy d Nuss/Kloth 2-1 – Elite16, Torquay AUS
– 27/1/23 Artacho del Solar/Clancy d Nuss/Kloth 2-0 – Beach Pro Tour Final, Doha QAT
– 24/3/23 Artacho del Solar/Clancy d Nuss/Kloth 2-0 – Elite16, Tepic MEX
– 30/4/23 Nuss/Kloth d Artacho del Solar/Clancy 2-1 – Elite16, Uberlandia BRA
– 3/6/23 Nuss/Kloth d Artacho del Solar/Clancy 2-1 – Elite16, Ostrava CZE
– 8/7/23 Nuss/Kloth d Artacho del Solar/Clancy 2-0 – Elite16, Gstaad SUI
– 28/9/23 Nuss/Kloth d Artacho del Solar/Clancy 2-0 – Elite16, Paris FRA
