05/06/2014 19:00
Samoilovs and Smedins still lack rhythm of the game, but keep on winning
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Cagliari, Italy, June 5, 2014. The last round of pool Play at Poetto beach provided Beach Volleyball fans with a show that did already set the tone for the remainder of the tournament and especially for the weekend where the medals will be at stake. Actually two matches drew much attention on the side courts where German teams put on a close fight against two of the “hottest” contenders for the gold medal. In the end, first-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia and 2013 European champions Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira got the upper hand to keep a perfect record of three wins in as many matches and by-pass the first round of the elimination phase coming up on Friday.
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Last year’s silver medallists and winners of the FIVB World Tour Samoilovs and Smedins did not have it easy at all in their final match in Pool A where they got to play Germany’s Lars Flüggen and Sebastian Fuchs. They lost the opening set (19-21) but then came back strong in the second (21-18) where they stepped up the quality of their game to ward off the always fierce resistance of their opponents. Curiously enough Lars Flüggen and Sebastian Fuchs are playing here their first tournament together after Fuchs stepped in to replace the injured Sebastian Dollinger. Their partnership seems to be working just fine since they opened their campaign in Cagliari with two straight victories before taking on the Latvian kings of the beach. Only in the third set they could no longer keep up with the rhythm of their world-class opponents who started out with a 10:2 run that practically determined the fate of the game (15-5). “We did not play any matches since the Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico,” Janis Smedins said, “so we lack a bit the rhythm of the game. On top of this, since this is only the pool phase, we probably aren’t as focused and determined as we would be in the elimination stage of the tournament, that is why we have dropped two sets in the last couple of matches. However, I am happy with the fact that once we regroup and start playing the way we are used to, things work as they should.”
On the court nearby, another German team – Alexander Walkenhorst and Stefan Windscheif – embarked on a quest to upset another top pair, reigning European champions Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira. This time the pre-favourites were off to a very good start whereby they cashed the first set (21-17) but could not capitalize on a few match balls in the second, as Windscheif and Walkenhorst showed determination and classy actions to stretch the game to the tie-break (23-25). Herrera and Gavira emulated Samoilovs and Smedins as they kept cool and showed glimpses of their class to bring it home for their third victory in the tournament (15-12) to cement their first place in Pool D.
Italy’s underdogs Matteo Cecchini and Matteo Martino delivered a strong performance on the centre court cruising to a 21-15, 21-12 victory over Robert Kufa and Jan Hadrava (CZE) to stay alive in the tournament. “We have achieved our goal in this competition, which was to make the elimination phase, and now anything more would be a plus,” Martino said. “We are of course very happy with this result and the way we played today. It shows that if we are free of any pressure, we can perform our best and be competitive.” The host country could be happy also with the Ingrosso twins that could see off Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol of Poland to finish second in Pool G whose charts were topped by last year’s bronze medallists Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel.
Teams directly qualified for the second round are: Samoilovs/Smedins (LAT), Plavins/Solovejs (LAT), Nicolai/Lupo (ITA), Herrera/Gavira (ESP), Erdmann/Matysik (GER), Stiekema/Varenhorst (NED), Fijalek/Prudel (POL), and Tomatis/Ranghieri (ITA).
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