11/09/2020 21:00
Home teams off to flying start at World Tour 1-Star event in Vilnius
2020 World Tour 1-Star - Vilnius
Vilnius, Lithuania, September 11, 2020. After a long break, international Beach Volleyball competition has finally returned to Vilnius, with competition taking place in the newly refurbished Beach Volleyball courts located in the very heart of the Lithuanian capital city. Despite the difficulties resulting from the very strict national COVID-19 security measures, players from seven European countries, i.e. Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Switzerland managed to join the tournament, with two women’s teams from Chile crossing the Atlantic Ocean to take part in the competition as well.
The even started in the best possible way for home stars Ieva Dumbauskaite and Karole Virbickaite, who finished first in Pool C. Although they are playing together for the first time, they managed to secure a two-set victory (21-18, 21-19) over Maëva Guignan and Marion Bernard of France. Later in the day, the Lithuanians celebrated a second triumph, this time after a hard-fought match (18-21, 21-15, 15-11) against Kim Huber and Joelle Rohrer of Switzerland.
“It was not easy for us as both of us are blockers in our regular teams,” Virbickaite said. “However, we are eager to play and eager to win.” Her teammate in Vilnius, Ieva Dumbauskaite, is a multiple medallist from European and World age-group championships as well as a Snow Volleyball European champion in 2018 with former partner Monika Povilaityte.
In Pool A, Latvia’s Marta Ozolina/Luize Skrastina were able to edge another home team in Vytene Vitkauskaite/Urte Andriukaityte after a dramatic match (21-18, 19-21, 16-14) and advanced to the quarterfinals as did the Italian team Claudia Scampoli/Margherita Bianchin and Maria Francisca Rivas Zapata/Chris Vorpahl Villablanca of Chile from Pool B and D, respectively.
As only 13 teams have entered the men’s competition, due to the seeding, the Lithuanian crowd had a chance to enjoy a beautiful derby where Linas Petravicius/Matas Navickas emerged victorious from their matchup with Tomas Stasevicius/Andzej Savostenok.
In Pool A, with only one match scheduled, Latvia’s Arnis Relins/Ardis Bedritis beat Piotr Groszek/Jan Krasinski of Poland. On Saturday, the Latvians will be playing home stars Artur Vasiljev and Robert Juchnevic of Lithuania.
In Pool D, Tobia Marchetto/Alberto Di Silvestre of Italy upset Lithuanian youngsters Benas Kucinskas/Robertas Zacharevicius with a comprehensive 21-9, 21-14 victory and Estonia’s Timo Ander Lõhmus/Dimitriy Korotkov did not leave much of a chance to another Lithuanian tandem in Daniil Miscenko/Karolis Lanevski (21-9, 21-14).
In another derby featuring two home teams in Pool C, Lithuanian reigning national champion Patrikas Stankevicius together with his partner Mantas Donela beat compatriots Kestutis Gudauskas and Julius Mikucionis.
On Saturday, after completion of the remaining pool matches in the men’s competition, the knockout stage of the tournament will get underway before reaching its climax on Sunday with the semis and medal matches.
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