29/05/2016 10:04
Swiss and German tandems secure semi-final spot at Ankara Satellite
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Ankara
Ankara, Turkey, May 28, 2016. The CEV Satellite tournament in Ankara continued on Saturday with a very busy schedule and two teams ultimately booking their spot in the semis of the event taking place at Atlantis Shopping Mall in the Turkish capital. These are top-seeded Teresa Mersmann/Isabel Schneider of Germany and Swiss sensation Dunja Gerson/Nicole Eiholzer, who in a couple of days will compete at the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel / Bienne.
The day started with a number of matches on schedule for the so-called ‘losers’ bracket’. Italy’s Monica Lestini and Agata Zuccarelli bounced back from a setback they had suffered on Friday to edge Greece’s Pigi Anna Metheniti/Anna Spanou after three close sets (22-20, 17-21, 15-12).
Germany’s Cinja Tillmann/Sandra Seyfferth were the next ones to celebrate following their pretty compelling 21-19, 21-15 victory over Martina Bonnerova and Nicole Dostalova of the Czech Republic.
Bianca Zass and Valerie Teufl of Austria upset the local fans with their straight-forward 21-11, 21-14 win in the matchup with Turkey’s Burcu Atasoy and Yaren Sencel. There was another setback for the home teams later on as Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova from Ukraine edged Aleyna Vence/Ebru Karayilan in straight sets as well (21-17, 21-14).
The competition continued with another round whose losers would have finished the competition in ninth place. The silver medallists from the Baku 2015 European Games, Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig of Austria, opened the programme of this stage by edging Zuccarelli and Lestini 21-19, 21-15. Tillmann/Seyfferth upset another Italian team in the following match with their comfortable 21-13, 21-13 victory over Rebecca Perry/Laura Giombini.
There was finally something to celebrate for the home crowd when Merve Nezir/Esra Betül Cetin cruised to a 26-24, 22-20 victory over Zass/Teufl to stay alive in the competition and make amends for the loss suffered by their compatriots Atasoy/Sencel earlier in the day.
Davidova/Shchypkova caused a little sensation in the next match by edging 2014 U22 European champions Jagoda Gruszczynska/Dorota Strag of Poland 21-15, 21-12 to progress to the next round.
The actions resumed with the matches of Round 3 where a spot in the semis was at stake. Top-seeded Mersmann/Schneider edged Norway’s Victoria Faye Kjølberg/Ingrid Lunde 21-17, 21-19 to secure a place among the top four of the tournament.
Eiholzer/Gerson followed suit with their 21-11, 21-15 victory in the matchup with one of the real sensations of the tournament so far, Serbia’s Milena Matic/Marija Milosevic.
Saturday’s programme came to a close with another two matches for teams fighting their way back through the losers’ bracket. Tillmann/Seyfferth edged Cetin/Nezir 17-21, 21-18, 15-11 to eliminate the last Turkish team from the competition.
Still in the race for a spot on the podium are also Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig after the Austrians claimed a 25-23, 21-9 victory over Davidova/Shchypkova in the last match of the day.
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