30/08/2018 20:35
Switzerland’s women and France’s men celebrate three pool wins apiece in Montpellier
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Montpellier
Montpellier, France, August 30, 2018. The pool stage of the FIVB 1-Star/CEV Satellite in Montpellier finished on Thursday, thus determining the teams progressing to the knockout stage of the competition, with the pool winners progressing straight to the quarterfinals. To continue with the trend already set on Wednesday, Swiss women and French men seem to be the dominant force of the competition with three pool wins apiece.
Three pool wins for Swiss women
Home stars Alexandra Jupiter/Lézana Placette emerged on top of Pool A after beating Kim Huber and Tatjana Greber of Switzerland. The French ladies move on to the quarterfinals while next to the Swiss team, Greece’s Dimitra Manavi/Konstantina Tsopoulou advanced to the Round of 12 as well after edging American twin sisters Audrey and Nicole Nourse 21-12, 21-14.
The Swiss team Laura Caluori/Dunja Gerson claimed the top spot in Pool B after winning against the Norwegian tandem Emilie Olimstad/Frida Berntsen 21-14, 21-6. The Swiss proceed straight to the quarterfinals while home side Marie Nevot/Pia Szewczyk has to leave the tournament after their loss to Julia Wouters/Pleun Ypma of the Netherlands.
Zoé Vergé-Dépré and partner Esmée Böbner were among the pool winners on Thursday in Montpellier
Another Swiss team, Nicole Eiholzer/Elena Steinemann secured the top position in Pool C after a relatively hard-fought victory over Satono Ishitsubo/Asami Shiba of Japan (21-14, 21-17). Laura Longuet/Ophélie Lusson of France remain in the competition following their victory over Sweden’s Felicia Granberg/Johanna Wikberg. “After a difficult start, we feel that our game is getting better now and it’s a great thing for the next matches,” Longuet and Lusson commented.
In Pool D, after suffering a loss on Wednesday, the well-experienced Anniemieke Driessen/Ilke Meertens (NED) claimed a victory over Canada’s Rian Lenarduzzi/Anna Dunn-Suen. The Canadians, lucky losers from the qualification, have to leave the competition. “We were very disappointed with yesterday’s loss, and we couldn’t go home today,” Meertens said. Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré made it three pool wins for Switzerland as they won the clash for the top spot with France’s Clémence Vieira and Mia Guyot Polverini.
Frenchmen celebrate three pool wins
In one of the longest matches of the day, the Japanese team Yu Koshikawa/Hiroki Dylan Kurokawa claimed a tiebreak victory over the Czech Republic’s Martin Sramek/Dominik Samec, thus avoiding elimination from the competition. Home favourites Maxime Thiercy/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat delighted the home crowd to clinch the top spot in their pool after a 2-0 victory over Javier and Joaquin Bello of England.
Jamaine Naidoo/Leo Williams of South Africa did not drive from Prague to Montpellier for nothing, as they stay alive in the competition following their victory over Marius Malinauskas/Artur Vasiljev of Lithuania. Williams has returned to Montpellier six years after a previous visit and with his partner, he erupted in joy after the victory over the opponents from the Baltics. In a match that featured two players standing at 210 cm, home stars Youssef Krou and Quincy Ayé claimed a 2-0 victory over Chris Gregory and Issa Batrane of England, despite Gregory cancelling three match balls with three straight blocks.
Maxime Thiercy (FRA) spikes as partner Arnaud Gauthier-Rat looks on in a match where the home favourites claimed first place in their pool.
In Pool C, Mees Blom/Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands beat Mark Garcia-Kidd/Freddie Bialokoz of England to finish third and remain in the competition. After a very close battle, Sweden’s Jakob Molin/Linus Tholse moved straight to the quarterfinals by edging home stars Romain Di Giantommaso and Jérémy Silvestre 15-21, 24-22, 18-16.
Adrian Caravano/Arnaud Loiseau had lost their first match on Wednesday and even though they put up a fight and killed some stunning attacks, they lost to Ruben Penninga/Tom van Steenis (NED) to finish fourth and last in Pool D.
Edouard Rowlandson/Olivier Barthélémy, on the other hand, claimed the top spot of the pool after dropping the second set of their matchup with Florian Breer and Yves Haussener of Switzerland. Barthélémy’s stunning blocks and the fighting spirit of Rowlandson, who is contesting his first international tournament in two years, combined for a 15-13 tiebreak victory. As a result, the Frenchmen progressed straight to the quarterfinals.
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