Novi Sad, Serbia, July 4, 2014.  Roberto Mauro Silva Reis / Fabricio Silva vs. Alexander Huber / Robin Seidl and Armin Dollinger / Clemens Wickler vs. Serguei Prokopiev / Grigoriy Goncharov have been set as the semifinal match-ups of the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship.

The first-seeded team of the tournament, Austria’s Alexander Huber / Robin Seidl, who entered the competition with 2160 points, will surely give their best to improve their 2012 and 2011 results in Novi Sad when they ended at fourth place.

After cruising past Polish duo Maciej Kosiak / Maciej Rudol, winners of this year’s FIVB U23 World Championship in Myslowice and the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Lausanne, in straight sets by 2:0 (21-15, 21-16), the Austrians continued their winning streak against Murat Giginoglu / Selcuk Sekerci from Turkey shutting them out by 2:0 (21-10, 21-19).

“Today’s game against the Polish guys was tough, plus it was really hot like always here in Novi Sad.  We had to fight until the end and we are very happy that we made it to the semifinals.  We know that there are a lot of strong teams her and that it will be hard, but our goal is to make it to the finals tomorrow and to win this tournament,” says Alexander.

The German duo Armin Dollinger / Clemens Wickler, seeded at #9, outplayed the third-seeded pair of the tournament this morning, Check Republic’s Premysl Kubala / Jan Hadrava by 2:1 (21-14, 18-21, 15-13), and then took on seed #5, Austrian duo Tobias Winter / Lorenz Petutschnig to beat them after a nerve-wrecking third set by 2:1 (21-19, 13-21, 15-13).  Young Wickler (19) won last year’s FIVB U19 World Championship in Porto together with Moritz Reichert, and finished third at the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Anapa with his current partner in January.  At the previous tournament edition, Armin took the seventh position with Jonas Schroder.

Another Check pair, fourth-seeded pair Robert Kufa / Jan Dumek, was also sent home as it lost its Round 2 match against Russians Serguei Prokopiev / Grigoriy Goncharov in straight sets by 0:2 (16-21, 17-21).  Serguei and Grigoriy this morning ousted two Matteo’s from Italy, Cecchini / Martino, by 2:0 (21-14, 21-10).

Seed #19, Portugal’s Roberto Mauro Silva Reis / Fabricio Silva, last year at 13th place, first bested Spaniards Francisco Alfredo Marco / Christian Garcia after a long and hard-fought match by 2:1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-11) and then sent home French duo Youssef Krou / Edouard Rowlandson after 2:1 (21-17, 14-21, 15-12), putting to a stop their winning cruise all the way from the qualifications.

Exhilarating matches, attractive DJ sets, exciting side activities for the spectators and pleasant temperature of 26 degrees attracted many beach volleyball fans to the beautiful Strand in Novi Sad.  The stadium capacity will once again be filled as it becomes the venue of the semifinals tomorrow, Saturday, at 12:00 and at 13:00 local time, followed by the third-place match at 15:00, and the final at 16:30.