Antalya, Turkey, July 13, 2019. Germany will face the Netherlands and Spain will challenge Russia in Sunday’s semifinals of the women’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship 2019 in Antalya. The four teams coped with the Mediterranean heat and went unbeaten through two or three matches in Saturday’s first three knockout rounds.
Julika Hoffmann and Sarah Schulz were the first team to secure a spot in the semifinals. The fifth-seeded Germans were one of the teams that had to go through three matches on Saturday to reach the last four. Furthermore, in two of them they had to battle back from a set down to emerge with the win. In the first elimination round, Hoffmann and Schulz persevered through a tough three-setter against Kosovo’s Dhuratë Sylejmani and Valmira Ramadani to come up with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-8) win. Then they produced a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) shutout of fourth-seeded Clémence Vieira and Pia Szewczyk of France. In a hard-fought quarterfinal against Eleni Baka and Maria Klepkou, the Greeks took the first set and the Germans drew level taking the second. In the decider, it was Baka and Klepkou’s turn to play catch up and they managed to erase Hoffmann and Schulz’s four-point lead. After 12-12, however, Germany pulled off three in a row to triumph as semifinalists with a 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, 15-12) victory.
“I am a little bit sick, but I am very happy,” said Hoffmann. “It was very hard in the heat and now I need to get some sleep.”
“We panicked a little, because we thought three games in this hot weather would be exhausting, but we made it through the end and we are happy that we beat the heat,” 19-year-old Schulz commented. “We are happy about everything, but we want a medal now.”
In another exciting three-set quarterfinal, the 16th-seeded duo of Pleun Ypma and 18-year-old Emma Piersma became the next known semifinalists. The Dutch pair managed a 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-12) victory over ninth-seeded Ronja Klinger and Katharina Holzer of Austria. Earlier on Saturday, Piersma and Ypma pulled off a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) straight-setter over sixth-seeded Dalila Varrassi and Claudia Scampoli of Italy.
Russia’s Mariia Bocharova in action
Second-seeded Russians Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina dismissed Switzerland’s Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré in straight sets, 2-0 (21-15, 21-16), in their quarterfinal encounter. In their previous match, however, 17-year-old Bocharova and 19-year-old Voronina had to fight back from a set down on the way to a 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-5) win over Poland’s Martyna Kloda and Agata Ceynowa in what was the longest match of the day – 61 minutes.
Another 17-year-old, Daniela Álvarez Mendoza, will be among the Russians’ opponents in Sunday morning’s semifinals. She and her 20-year-old teammate María Belén Carro Márquez de Acuña delivered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) quarterfinal shutout of Slovenia’s Nika Bevc and Tajda Lovsin. Earlier on Saturday, the 15th-seeded Spanish pair managed two more straight-set victories, both over Czech teams – 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) against Tereza Kotlasova and Daniela Resova in the round of 24 and 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) against Marie-Sara Stochlova and Miroslava Dunarova in the round of 16.
All #EuroBeachVolleyU22 matches are streamed live on EuroVolleyTV. Sunday’s gold medal match at 17:00 local time will also be available on the CEV Beach Volleyball Facebook page.
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