Beach volleyballers Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar into Paris Olympics semi-finals
Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar are into the medal rounds and eyeing gold after surviving a thrilling beach volleyball clash at the Paris Olympics.
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Taliqua Clancy quipped she played like a bit of a “pussy” but it was the tiger within that has her stalking another Olympic medal.
Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar’s hopes of upgrading their silver medal from Tokyo to gold are still alive after a three-set thriller under the Eiffel Tower.
They will play either Brazil or Latvia in the semi-finals. With the once hotly favoured United States duo of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth gone this is anybody’s tournament after Australia beat Switzerland two sets to one (21-19, 16-21, 15-12).
The Australians have taken great heart from the fact that they were less than perfect and still won.
Out of her 26 serves Clancy made 10 errors, missing six in the opening set. But the duo scrambled brilliantly.
“Just so proud of how we stayed true and trusted our game even though things didn’t feel perfect,’’ Clancy said.
“I was very happy my friend stuck by me. We stayed true to our game style and trusted in what we could do.’’
Of her service errors, Clancy said: “I think I just was a bit of a pussy. It happens. It was a big moment and I stayed patient. You can’t be perfect all the time. We did what we had to do.
“It doesn’t need to be perfect for us to get a win.
The pair got off to a shaky start in their opening set against undefeated Swiss pair Esmee Boebner and Zoe Verge-Depre.
A long serve from Clancy put them on the chase from the start, with the score quickly blowing out to 6-2 in favour of the Swiss.
After niggling away the Aussies managed to fight their way back into the set.
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A brilliant piece of teamwork to keep the ball alive and take the Swiss off guard was the turning point.
More serving errors cost them the second, while the Swiss pair kept their cool to snare the set and send the game to a decider.
The Australians took the lead early in the third 7-4 but the Swiss came back to level scores at 8-8.
An attempted Swiss spike that soared over the baseline saw the Australians take the match 15-12 in the third.
They erupted with joy, passionately embraced and jumped around the court to celebrate their win.
Clancy and Artacho del Solar will be desperate to go one better than they did in Tokyo and come home with a gold medal around their necks.
“Tokyo definitely stung but we don’t look back. We enjoy this with our family and friends and come back for a semi. I am still extremely proud
“It was great team-work. When one of us is down the other one has to take their back. That’s what team-work is. In those pressure situations we made some great plays.’’
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