Portoroz, Slovenia, June 14, 2014.  After the exciting first day of matches of the 1st round of 2014-2016 the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, the semifinalists in Pool B are now known.  In the men's competition in Portoroz, Norway will play against Slovenia and Belgium will try to cruise past Scotland.  The two semifinal match-ups and the final are scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Scotland 2, Northern Ireland 0

Northern Ireland met Scotland in the first match-up of day one in Slovenia.  The Scottish beach volleyball players, seeded fifth in the pool, did not have much trouble beating their opponents, although both teams entered the Continental Cup for the first time and without any CEV points.  In the first game, Seain Cook / Robin Miedzybrodzki shut out Jeff Scott / David Park by 2:0 (21-12, 21-14) and in the second Graham Riddle / Barry McGuigan overcame Jonathan Workman / Alan McKnight by 2:1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-12).

Belgium 2, Slovenia 0

In the second clash of the day, Slovenians Danijel Pokersnik / Jure Peter Bedrac opened their match against Belgians Bob Douwen / Robin Adriaensen with good serving and even better defense and won by 21-12.  After a lot of Slovenian mistakes on serve in the beginning of the second set, the Belgians took the initiative and won by the same result. The third set also went to Douwen / Adriaensen after 15-12.  The second Slovenian pair, Nejc Zemljak / Jernej Potocnik, needed to win, but the Belgian team of Aljosa Urnaut, who also has Slovenian citizenship, and Dennis Deroey was too strong for them.  The Slovenian duo fought well in the first set and lost by 21-23, but in second set the Belgians played even better and won by 21-13.

Norway 2, Scotland 0

In the other Round 2 match-up, the top-seeded Norwegians faced the only Round 1 winner Scotland for the best position in the semifinals.  Iver Andreas Horrem / Geir Eithun went strong on Riddle / McGuigan and left them with 20 points in two sets – 2:0 (21-7, 21-13).  Oivind Hordvik / Bjarte Usken were also successful against Cook / Miedzybrodzki by 2:0 (21-17, 21-15).

Slovenia 2, Northern Ireland 0

Finally, Slovenia crushed Northern Ireland with two victories to none to claim the last semifinal spot and leave the opponent in the bottom fifth place.  Pokersnik / Bedrac played against Workman / McKnight and managed to win by 2:0 (21-10, 21-12) and Zemljak / Potocnik completed the mission with a smooth 2:0 (21-10, 21-11) win against Scott / Park.