Lou celebrates – photo courtesy of FIVB www.fivb.org
On her 28th birthday (and not looking a day over 21) Louise Bawden and her partner Becchara Palmer have broken through to the semi finals with a solid win against Brazilians Ana Paula-Shelda 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-12), and then a smack down in the quarter finals, knocking out the Schwaiger sisters in 34 minutes 2-0 (21-15, 21-15). It’s a funny coincidence that today was also Stefanie Schwaiger’s birthday. Maybe some player handle the distractions better than others. Or perhaps the Aussies were just too good.
The Aussies will meet Vivian-Vieira in the semi final, as the only non Brazilian team in the final four. The other semi final being Larissa-Juliana BRA Vs Talita-Antonelli BRA.
No doubt this will be a birthday that Lou never forgets being her best international result to date, and looking at the slow build from previous events, I think it’s a safe bet that both our Aussie women’s teams are looking forward to some pretty good results.
See images of the girls here: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2009x/Event/Photos.asp?Tourncode=WSTJ2009
Results here: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2009x/Event/Results.asp?TournCode=WSTJ2009&Phase=2
The semi final will be played tomorrow at 1 O’clock. (About 5AM Aussie time)