12/08/2017 00:10
Dutchwomen comfortably progress to CEV Satellite Vaduz semis
2017 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Vaduz
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 11, 2017. Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe of the Netherlands extended on Friday their winning streak to secure a spot in the semis of the CEV Satellite in Vaduz. The Dutchwomen came from behind in the second set of their matchup with Germany’s Kim Behrens/Anni Schumacher to secure a 2-0 victory (21-19, 24-22) after trailing 16-20 in the second set. Teams from Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic qualified for the women’s semi-finals as well as the competition continued on Friday with 1,000 fans in attendance, with the players having to cope – yet again – with rainy and chilly weather.
Nicole Eiholzer/Dunja Gerson of Switzerland have reached the semi-finals after starting their campaign on Wednesday in the qualification round. They made it among the top four after losing to Martina Bonnerova/Sarka Nakladalova of the Czech Republic, but regrouped to beat Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo/Paula Soria (20-22, 21-14, 15-10) to secure a spot in the semis. Their next opponents will be the so far unbeaten Sinnema/Stubbe of the Netherlands.
The winners of last week’s CEV Satellite in Larnaca and silver medallists from this year’s U22 European Championship, Romania’s Adriana-Maria Matei and Beata Vaida quite surprisingly lost to Spain’s Amaranta Fernandez/Angela Lobato. However, they came back strong in the losers’ bracket as they first beat France’s Alexandra Jupiter/Ophélie Lusson before claiming a marathon match with Germany’s Katarina Schillerwein and Cinja Tillmann (2-1; 19-21, 21-17, 26-24). In their second game of the day, they outclassed top-seeded Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova of Ukraine 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) before their winning streak ended when playing Behrens/Schumacher for a spot in the semis.
Moving to the men’s tournament, the home team Manuel Gahr/Maximilian von Deichmann of Liechtenstein played Italy’s Marco Caminati/Enrico Rossi in their first round match and despite a promising start (6-3), they ended up losing 14-21, 9-21. The local stars took to the sand again later in the day and even though they put up a fight, they suffered another setback against Ukraine’s Oleksii Denin and Sergiy Popov.
Elsewhere, top-seeded Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger of Switzerland surprisingly lost their second round match to Slovenia’s Nejc Zemljak/Jan Pokeršnik 0-2 (16-21, 16-21). The 21-year-old French rising stars Arnaud Loiseau/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat won the derby with Maxime Thiercy/Romain Di Giantommaso 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) to move on straight to Round 3. Loiseau and Gauthier-Rat won the CEV indoor Satellite in Göteborg, Sweden back in April before finishing in fourth place at this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU22 in Baden, Austria.
The weekend will not only feature the deciding stages of the CEV Satellite, but also one qualifying event for the 2017-2018 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. Young players aged 14 to 18 will be vying for a spot in next year’s Finals where five spots will be at stake to compete at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Teams from Liechtenstein, Austria, Spain, Sweden and Croatia will participate in the event – with the top two per gender qualifying to the finals.
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