08/06/2014 13:06
Lupo and Nicolai make last act of home European Championship, will play first-seeded Latvians for gold
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Cagliari, Italy, June 8, 2014. On Sunday morning Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai wrote a small piece of history on the centre court set up on Poetto beach. As they beat Austria’s Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst (21-13, 21-19), they made sure the host country will at least win silver in this year’s European Championship, the best result for any Italian team since the competition was established in 1993. Italy indeed has a collection of three bronze medals won in 1993, 1995 and 1996 but never made the last act of the European Championship. Lupo and Nicolai will now play first-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia who came back strong after a very poor start to avenge their defeat in last year’s final match to Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira (15-21, 21-16, 15-10).
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Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai were the “face” of this European Championship already well before the competition got started on Tuesday since they were portrayed in all posters and billboards advertising the competition in Cagliari. On Sunday they fully exploited the stage the organisers have set up hoping they would pay back all of their efforts by winning gold in this year’s European Championship. Lupo and Nicolai drove the local crowd just crazy with a terrific performance in the first set of their semi-final with two-time European champion Clemens Doppler and partner Alexander Horst. After a close start (2:2), Nicolai killed three straight blocks to set the tone of the game (5:2) and even though Doppler and Horst cut their deficit to just one point, with another series of five points versus only one for their opponents, Nicolai and Lupo re-imposed their rule in the game (10:5). Doppler – back in action after tearing his ACL at last year’s home Championship in Klagenfurt – and Horst asked for a time-out but this did not prevent the home heroes from keeping full control of the game, with Nicolai sealing the final 21-13 at the end of a very spectacular rally.
Things got a little more difficult for the two “Azzurri” in the second set where the Austrian pair got rid of the pressure and played with more consistency. Doppler and Horst claimed a 4:2 lead before Nicolai restored the balance with yet another block. The Italians trailed once more in the score before equality followed at 8 all and from there Lupo and Nicolai could hold on to their two/three point lead (15:12). It was still far from being over, since the Austrians drew level at 15 to prompt an Italian time-out. The home guys scored two points (17:15) right after that break and that was enough to stand any attempt of comeback made by their opponents and to get the party started (21-19).
“I would like to thank once more, as I already did yesterday, the audience because their support is really very important,” Nicolai said. “At the end of this match we hugged each other and I told Daniele that we still have another one to go and after that we can say: mission accomplished! I do hope the fans will come back later this afternoon so that we can celebrate all together a real milestone for Beach Volleyball in Italy.”
The second semi-final was probably the most anticipated match since the start of the tournament, being also the remake from last year’s final in Klagenfurt. However, it did not quite turn out the close affair it was expected to be, especially in the first set where Herrera and Gavira claimed an impressive 12:5 lead as Samoilovs and Smedins were struggling to find their way into the match. Mistakes were flurrying in almost every aspect of the game for the first-seeded pair from Latvia, whereas Herrera and Gavira showed their class, experience and patience to easily claim the first set by 21-15. Things did not improve also at the beginning of the second set where Samoilovs and Smedins quickly trailed 1:3 to the disappointment of their respective fathers who compose the coaching staff of the team. The Latvian guys claimed the lead in the score for the first time after scoring three straight points (4:3) and halfway through the second set the quality of the rallies had definitely reached much higher standards. Samoilovs and Smedins got a two-point lead but Herrera and Gavira responded by levelling the score. It was only down the final stretch that Samoilovs and Smedins broke away (19:16) thereby cashing a 1:1 (21:16) that had looked almost unreal at the beginning of the second set. The tie-break provided the fans on Poetto beach with some of the best actions since the start of the tournament on Tuesday. Samoilovs and Smedins were definitely up to the task and back in fine form; their superb performance prompted a Spanish time-out at 9:6 but Herrera and Gavira could no longer compensate for that gap with Samoilovs stamping a block to cash the right to play for European gold for the second consecutive year.
Janis Smedins is already sure he will travel home with his third medal from the European Championship, after winning bronze in 2010 (with Martins Plavins) and silver last year in Klagenfurt. Herrera and Gavira, on the other hand, will have to battle for bronze, a result they already achieved back in 2009 as the European Championship had stopped in Sochi, Russia.
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