Fethiye, Turkey, September 21, 2014.  Karolina Baran / Jagoda Gruszczynska are the new European champions for U22 women.  They emerged victorious from a an all-Polish very dramatic five-set final against Katarzyna Kociolek / Dorota Strag in Fethiye, Turkey to claim the gold medals at the 2014 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship.

In Sunday’s semifinals, Kociolek / Strag defeated Nicole Eiholzer / Dunja Gerson from Switzerland by 3:1 (15-13, 15-7, 10-15, 15-10) and Baran / Gruszczynska won against Ukraine’s Elizaveta Sulima / Dar’ya Udovenko by the same score – 3:1 (15-13, 19-17, 10-15, 20-18).

The Polish duos played their gold medal game in front of a sellout crowd.  In the beginning Kociolek / Strag were the better team and took a 2:0 lead after 15-13 and 18-16.  But Baran / Gruszczynska did not give up.  After two close sets, 15-13 and 15-13, they forced the game to a tie-breaker.  In the deciding set, they took an early lead, won the set by 7-5 and the final game by 3:2.

Baran / Gruszczynska were very happy to climb on top of Europe.  “This is incredible,” said Jagoda Gruszczynska.  “Being the best team in Europe is an amazing feeling.  We played against another Polish team.  It was a very very hard match for us.  We know each other very well.  But this was a dream final for Poland.  We came here to win and we did it.”

Karolina Baran, who needed a medical time-out at the end of the semifinal game, stressed that playing a tie-breaker is not a problem for them.  “It was a tie-breaker.  I think it was a great match for the spectators.  Being 0:2 down is not a problem for us.  We did not make so many mistakes after the second set.  We wanted to be in the final four at the beginning of the tournament because there are a lot of good teams here.  Many of them are playing in the FIVB World Tour.  The level is very high.  We are very happy to win.”

In the third place match against Elizaveta Sulima / Dar’ya Udovenko, Nicole Eiholzer / Dunja Gerson controlled the game from the beginning till the end, except for the third set, and won the bronze medal with a 3:1 (15-12, 15-11, 10-15, 15-7) victory.

Semifinals and finals for the distribution of the places from fifth through eight were also played on Sunday in Fethiye and they determined these positions for Katharina Schuetzenhöfer / Lena Plesiutschnig from Austria, Sandra Ittlinger / Yanina Weiland from Germany, Sara Olivova / Marketa Bendikova from the Czech Republic and Agata Zuccarelli / Federica Frasca from Italy, respectively.