Antalya, Turkey, July 12, 2019. Menia Bentele and Anna Lutz became the lowest seeded pair to top their pool at the women’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships 2019 and advance straight to the round of 16. Playing under #28 in the main draw, the second team of Switzerland swept through all of their three matches in Antalya to line up among the eight duos, who will skip the first elimination round on Saturday and play directly for the spots in the quarterfinals.
On Thursday, Bentele and Lutz started their #EuroBeachVolleyU22 campaign losing their first set against fifth-seeded Germans Julika Hoffmann and Sarah Schulz, but then fought back and never lost another set in Pool E. On the way to the top of the pool standings, they also defeated Norway’s Frida Berntsen and Rugile Lavickyte on Thursday and Serbian sisters Tamara Miljevic and Marija Miljevic on Friday, both in straight sets.
“I think winning that pool was very surprising for us, but we are very happy and, of course, hungry for more, hungry for our next win... Game for game – we’ll go like that here,” said 17-year-old Bentele. “We are the underdogs...”
“Yes, we are. We are Switzerland 2,” 19-year-old Lutz agreed. “This isn’t our age category and it was unexpected for us that we can play here. But we took that chance, we played our best and we are happy.”
Maybe it was not as unexpected for 27th-seeded Marie-Sara Stochlova and Miroslava Dunarova, or Czech Republic 2, to clinch the first place in their Pool F with three straight-set wins. 20-year-old Stochlova, U18 European champion in 2016, and her 19-year-old partner got the job completed with Friday’s 2-0 (21-8, 21-9) landslide against Slovakia’s Silvia Murinova and Emma Erteltova.
Stochlova and Dunarova triumph after scoring their third win in Antalya
Switzerland became the only country with two pairs progressing directly to the second knockout round. Seventh-seeded Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré swept through Pool G without losing a set. On Friday, they delivered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) shutout of the other unbeaten team in the pool, Martyna Kloda and Agata Ceynowa of Poland.
In the direct battle for the first place in Pool C, Lithuania’s Jekaterina Kovalskaja and Rugile Grudzinskaite managed a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) win over third-seeded Anete Namiķe and Varvara Brailko of Latvia and have yet to lose a set in the tournament.
Emma Piersma and Pleun Ypma of the Netherlands in Pool A and Ronja Klinger and Katharina Holzer of Austria in the three-team Pool H are the other duos that have not dropped a set in Antalya yet. Having lost a total of one set apiece, Russia’s Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina and France’s Clémence Vieira and Pia Szewczyk topped the standings in Pools B and D, respectively.
Great save by England in the decisive match for the third place in Pool G
The pool runners-up will be drawn against the third-placed teams for the first elimination round match-ups, which will determine the other eight participants in the round of 16.
All #EuroBeachVolleyU22 matches are streamed live on EuroVolleyTV.
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