09/08/2013 23:00
Rainy day in Vaduz as top seeded teams suffer setbacks
2013 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Vaduz
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 9, 2013. The third day of the CEV Satellite tournament in Vaduz was not blessed by the best weather conditions you may ask for but the games did continue without any interruption and some surprises were registered as the competition is gradually progressing to its last stages.
Switzerland’s first-seeded Mirco Gerson and Alexei Prawdzic started their campaign by easily edging Dimitris Apostolou and Vladimir Knezevic of Cyprus (21-17, 21-17) but then lost 17-19 at the tie-break to Austria’s Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler. The Swiss players made a way too many mistakes in the opening set losing it 18-21 but they fought back in the second (21-16) to call for the tie-break with Prawdzic standing out with his terrific blocks.
As for the home heroes Manuel Gahr and Maximilian von Deichmann, they lost both of their matches as they went through ups and downs and could not demonstrate their quality and real potential. They were first beaten by Austria’s Peter Eglseer/Felix Koraimann (15-21, 21-23) and then were bested in straight sets also by Maciej Rudol and Maciej Kosiak of Poland (19-21, 16-21).
Two teams from Austria, Dressler/Kunert and Lorenz Petutschnig/Tobias Winter, claimed two victories on Friday thereby advancing directly to the third round to play there Germany’s Armin Dollinger/Jonas Schröder and Russia’s Evgeniy Romashkin/Maksim Khudyakov respectively. The men’s tournament will re-start on Saturday morning at 9 am with the matches on schedule for the losers’ bracket.
Austria’s Bianca Zass (pictured) and Sabine Swoboda – who had started their campaign on Wednesday by playing the Country Quota Playoffs – prolonged their winning streak by edging Czech second-seeded Hana Skalnikova/Patricia Missottenova (21-14, 21-12) and then also Poland’s Karolina Suwinska/Agnieszka Woloszyn to make it to the semifinals (21-11, 21-15). In the semis they are set to play Germany’s Teresa Mersmann/Isabel Schneider who caused a sensation as they beat their compatriots Jana Köhler/Anni Schumacher (13-21, 21-17, 21-19), two players who have been competing also on the World Tour this year. Last year’s winners in Vaduz, Switzerland’s Romana Kayser and Muriel Graessli, re-started their quest for a second title by routing Suwinska and Woloszyn in straight sets (21-14, 21-15) to play in the semis Köhler/Schumacher who fought their way back after losing to Mersmann/Schneider as they cruised past Daniëlle Remmers and Nienke de Waard of the Netherlands (23-21, 11-21, and 15-9) to claim the last spot available among the top 4. The semis are scheduled for noon and 1 pm with Mersmann/Schneider and Zass/Swoboda opening the program.
The CEV Satellite tournament in Vaduz – up to 2008 it was organized under the umbrella of FIVB – is celebrating this year its ninth edition. The competition was first held in 2005 and last year was visited by more than 10,000 people. As teams battle for FIVB ranking points and 15,000 € prize money, a centre court with a capacity of 1,000 has been set up in downtown Vaduz.
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