Lessard and Martin Make Main Draw
Olympian Annie Martin dives in Moscow
Marie-Andre Lessard and Annie Martin upset 11th seeds Doris Schwaiger and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria in their opening main draw match at the Swatch FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Moscow.
“We were expecting a tough match but we’ve had success against them in the past” said Lessard, who posted three ninth-place finishes with Martin on the circuit last season. “So we felt we had a chance to beat them although it didn’t start well.”
Lessard and Martin, seeded 22nd, took the match in comeback fashion 16-21, 21-17, 15-8 in 48 minutes for their third victory in two days. The Canadians opened the tournament Tuesday winning their two qualifying round matches. Later today they will face 6th ranked Goller-Ludwig of Germany then Gioria-Momoli of Italy ranked 27th.
The round robin portion of the tournament concludes today. The top team in each of the eight pools advance to the round of 16 while second and third will battle it out in a playoff to capture those other eight round of 16 spots.
In men’s play, Christian Redmann and Richard Van Huizen of Toronto had a bye to the main draw and start play today.
VC and fivb.org
