Ross and Hughes hit top spot in Moscow
MOSCOW, Russia, August 12, 2018 – Summer Ross and Sara Hughes
ensured that their first season together on the FIVB Beach
Volleyball World Tour has a golden glow to it when they won the
final of the Moscow 4-Star tournament on Sunday.
The US pair defeated Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda
‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa 2-1 (21-19, 12-21, 15-12) in their first
World Tour final since they teamed up for The Hague 4-Star in
January.
“That was so amazing,” Hughes said. “My first World Tour final
and being in the final meant everything.
“I am so glad I had this girl by my side and Brazil played
great, but we competed hard to come out with the win.”
In July Ross, 25, and Hughes, 23, won their first World Tour
medal when they left the Espinho 4-Star with the bronze medal in
their luggage.
Gold means that Ross has improved on the silver medal she won in
the Russian capital in 2017, when she was playing alongside
Brooke Sweat.
The pair competed well in the first set, but the Brazilians
dominated the second. However, Hughes scored the first point of
the tie-break to settle their nerves. They then took control of
the match and stayed calm when victory was in sight.
“We knew that the first point meant everything,” Ross said. “We
just had to get every point we could get and somehow we got
through.”
Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart won their second
World Tour medal of the year when they defeated Germany’s Julia
Sude and Chantal Laboureur
2-0 (21-19, 21-12). in
the bronze medal match. |