Antalya, Turkey, May 17, 2014.  The home teams of Turkey finally managed to win one set in the men’s 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final, but the Lithuanian team still won the three-setter against Burhan Zorluer / Mehmet Rifat Kantarcioglu to crush the hosts’ last hopes for success in the men’s tournament.

Lithuania’s Edvinas Vaskelis / Matas Navickas were very convincing in the first set to win it by a landslide, but then, inspired by the support from the stands, the Turks set the stage for a decisive tie-breaker.  Vaskevis / Navickas once again dominated on the hot Antalya sand to finish the match off at the final 2:1 (21-11, 17-21, 15-6).

“This elimination game was really hard for us,” Matas Navickas admitted.  “We made many mistakes.  I think we can win in the second round and qualify for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, but we have to play better.”

“Our performance was not that good,” partner Edvinas Vaskelis agreed.  “We failed in blocking and passing.  Our attacking was not too good either.  We do not know what will happen in the second round but we know that we have to win one more game.”

And this game is against top-seeded Ukraine starting at 13:00 local time.

The first Turkish team also performed well on the neighboring court.  Sencer Urer / Berkecan Bildircin played a very competitive first set against Bulgaria’s Ivailo Ivanov / Dimitar Kalchev.  They missed out on several set points before Ivanov finished it off well into extra time with an off-the-net ace for 27-25.  With a psychological advantage also in their hands, the Bulgarians dominated the second set to win it by 21-13 and qualify for the decisive second round.  There they will face Germany at 13:00 local time on court 1 at the new TVF Mediterranean University Beach Volleyball Center.

On court 3 France’s Arnaud Loiseau / Arnaud Gauthier-Rat shut out Slovakia’s Jakub Ihnat / Marek Meciar by 2:0 (21-12, 21-16) on their way to a second round encounter with Austria, also starting at 13:00.

The second set of matches of the men’s first elimination round also offered some thrilling affairs.  The Cypriot youngsters came very close to prolonging the fairy tale they started in last year’s zonal phase.  In the third set against Spain’s Hugo Rojas Martínez / Javier Huerta Pastor, Charalampos Zorpis / Georgios Chrysostomou could not convert on a 13-10 lead to dramatically lose by 1:2 (21-16, 11-21, 15-17).  However, Spain now has the tough task to overcome the 2013 U18 European champions from Russia in the second round from 14:00.

Fifth-seeded Italians Manuel Alfieri / Paolo Di Silvestre managed a fantastic comeback to win the second set against second-seeded Latvians Raimonds Linins / Karlis Kaulins, but in the conclusive moments of the tie-breaker the team from the Baltic region proved far too strong and won the match by a final 2:1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-11).  At 14:00 Latvia will lock horns with Poland for a ticket to Nanjing.

Finland’s Miro Maattanen / Santeri Siren were more convincing against the #6 seed from the Czech Republic, Tomas Cermak / Jiri Kraffer, to knock them out by a 31-minute 2:0 (21-18, 21-12) and have a little more time to prepare for their decisive battle with Norway, also starting at 14:00.