Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 21, 2017. The 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Ljubljana Masters & Satellite served up some exciting games, amazing atmosphere and a lot of good volleyball right in the centre of Ljubljana.
In the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Ljubljana the first match between Ilke Meertens and Annemieke Driessen from the Netherlands against home players Nina Lovšin and Lea Gostinčar delivered a good fight, some exciting saves and a really tight score. However, the Dutch team managed to secure a 2-1 (25-23, 21-23, 16-14) win and made a big step towards the quarterfinals coming from multiple match points down to win. Surprisingly all other pool matches ended after two sets and almost all top seeded teams made their way through to the quarterfinals.
Next the men’s teams in the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Ljubljana Masters pleased the crowd in Ljubljana city centre with some attractive digs and amazing net actions. First seeds Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sørum secured their spot in the quarterfinals with two straight 2-0 wins. Other teams from Pools A and D had to work harder to earn their position in the next round. The main focus on the centre court was on Slovenia’s best Beach Volleyball players Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik. Zemljak was satisfied with the playing conditions: “Every venue has its specifics. In Ljubljana those are little wind and really deep sand. We usually train in this kind of conditions and that could maybe be a key factor towards our good performances. We served really well, so we could build up our blocking and defense game.
Saved till last, late into the evening the home team of Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokersnik (pictured above) took to the court and took only 33 minutes to dispose of their Austrian opponents Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler, afterwards saying: “I think we served well and so we could play really good in blocking and defence. I think we reached first place in the group and made easier work for tomorrow. We were playing pretty smart and we are hoping that we will manage to keep the same level tomorrow.”
For the full results from the men`s Masters so far click here
Back to the quarterfinals matches of 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Ljubljana the top seeded Germany’s Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher played strong and claimed an easy 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) win over the other German team in the quarterfinals (Anika Krebs/Lena Ottens). Ukrainian twin sisters Inna and Iryna Makhno made it to the semifinals after a tight second set against Sweden’s Sigrid Simonsson and Tadva Yoken 2-0 (21-14, 23-21. Getting artistic between matches (see below) seemed to help Romanian duo Adriana-Maria Matei and Beata Vaida as they won a close match 2-1 to make their first semi-final in front of a full house at Kongresni trg.
Tjaša Kotnik was super happy after her and Tjaša Jančar reached the semifinals with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 15-11) win over the Meertens/Driessen. “The atmosphere here was amazing. It was great playing in front of all our supporters. We knew that we are playing against the top teams, but still we were hoping to qualify to the semi-finals. We gave all we have and that’s why we made it,” commented Tjaša Kotnik after securing their spot in the semifinals on Saturday.
Here is a recap of all the women`s quarter-finals:
For the full results for the womens`s competition so far click here
The 2017-2018 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup has started today in Ljubljana as well. The boys from Slovenia, Moldova, Switzerland (pictured) and Latvia are trying to claim their spot on the Youth Olympic Games. The same task is up for girls from these same countries plus Slovakia.
Follow each of the competitions on-line using the respective #hashtags:
Masters - #EuroBeachVolley
Satellite - #CEVSatellite
Youth Continental Cup - #CEVContinentalCup