22/06/2016 20:00
Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Italy celebrate ‘Golden Match’ victories
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Final
Stavanger, Norway, June 22, 2016. As many as four exciting and dramatic ‘Golden Matches’ were played on Wednesday afternoon to cap the opening day of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final in Stavanger. On top of a sunny day and perfect weather conditions, the fans in attendance could also enjoy four close matches whose eventual winners complete the bracket for the quarter-finals set to follow on Thursday. The teams emerging victorious from the ‘Golden Matches’ – Sweden, France, the Czech Republic and Italy – will be playing Ukraine, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands respectively in the next stage of the Olympic qualifying competition currently taking place in a city which is truly living up to its status as Norway’s Beach Volleyball capital.
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Czechs win ‘derby’ with Slovakia
Since a few days, or better said ever since the 16 teams participating in the competition were seeded last week, almost everyone had expected that the eventual winners of the tie between the Czech Republic and Slovakia would be determined after a ‘Golden Match’. And so it was in the end, and with a little bit of drama as well. After winning the first set 21-16, 2016 European silver medallists Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova were able to respond to a 6-0 run by their opponents, Natalia Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova, and to erase a set ball as well, to score a 22-20 win in the second frame of the matchup with their Slovak friends.
“I think that almost everyone had reckoned with this match to be played,” Slukova said, “since we got to know we would play Slovakia in the Round of 16. I think it’s really a shame that two teams of this level had to play each other at such an early stage of the competition. We played without feeling any pressure; we are good friends with Natalia and Dominika and of course we are not happy that we destroyed their Olympic dream, something they have been working for so hard for the last four years,” she continued. “However, this is sport and we all know the rules of this competition.”
Their next opponent will be Spain: “I think at this stage of the competition there is no easy opponent even though Spain have come here without their best team [Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo], because they have already qualified for the Olympics. We are going to play fairly good teams, who sometimes make it to the Main Draw of FIVB World Tour events, but mostly play at a slightly lower level. We will just take it one set at a time and see how far we can go. Right now our focus is not so much on feeling ‘obliged’ to make it to the Olympics on matter what, but rather on playing to the best of our abilities,” Slukova added.
The silver medal they won at the EuroBeachVolley in Biel / Bienne has definitely boosted their confidence: “Well, some people back home in the Czech Republic were still criticising our decision to part ways with our respective former partners, and this medal kind of silenced some of critics because we have shown that this was actually the right thing to do,” Barbora Hermannova commented. “The European Championship medal was a very nice reward especially for all those who have been supporting and working for us since last summer,” Slukova added. “This is what we are especially proud of following our exploit in Switzerland.”
Sweden claim ‘Nordic derby’ with Finland
The Czech and Slovak derby was not the only one on schedule for Wednesday late afternoon – Sweden and Finland were also set to play a ‘Golden Match’ to determine the side making it to the quarter-finals and playing Ukraine in the next stage of the competition.
Karin Lundqvist and Anne Lie Rininsland added another chapter to the fairy tale they started earlier this month at the EuroBeachVolley in Biel / Bienne by cruising to a 22-20, 21-19 victory over Finland’s top team Riikka Lehtonen and Taru Lahti. The Swedish party got started only after another dose of drama – in the first set the Swedes erased a Finnish set ball before Taru Lahti’s mistake sealed their 22-20 win. Lundqvist and Rininsland trailed also in the second set by as many as four points at 14-10 but they produced an 11-5 run to finish it all off at 21-19. However, they first missed out on two match balls and called for a time-out before Lehtonen – who seemed to have run out of stamina – served into the net.
“I think our opponents did feel a lot of pressure because they have been dreaming of qualifying for the Olympics for three years and have been working for this goal for a long time,” Karin Lundqvist said. “I know this feeling very well. The same happened to me last year when I was still playing with Nina Grawender and we seemed well on track to be able to make it to Rio – however she got injured and all of our hopes were kind of blown away. Now we just want to enjoy the moment, play one match at a time and see how far this is going to take us,” she added. “Next on our agenda is a lot of video scouting later tonight in order to be as prepared as possible for the next round with Ukraine.”
Italy through to quarter-finals after come-from-behind win
Laura Giombini and Rebecca Perry have been playing together for a short time but their partnership produced an outstanding result on Wednesday late afternoon when they came from behind to claim their ‘Golden Match’ with Poland’s Dorota Strag and Jagoda Gruszczynska, the gold medal winners of the 2014 U22 European Championship.
Giombini – who last year finished fourth at the Baku 2015 European Games – with former partner Giulia Toti and the American-born Perry fought back after losing the opening set 15-21 to sweep set 2 and 3 21-19 and 16-14 and secure a spot for Italy in the quarter-finals where they will take on one of the pre-favourites of the tournament, i.e. The Netherlands. Brazilian-born coach Lissandro Carvalho was pleased with the result – and also with the fact that after delivering an impressive performance on Wednesday morning, rookie Giulia Saguatti will have the chance to play yet another match at this level.
Longuet/Jupiter propel France into quarter-finals after ousting Russia’s ‘Queens of the Beach’
In the last ‘Golden Match’ of the day, France’s Laura Longuet and Alexandra Jupiter caused a sensation by edging Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova 27-25, 24-22. This clash featured two teams that recently had made it among the Top 5 of the EuroBeachVolley in Biel / Bienne. Longuet/Jupiter showed nerves of steel and in a dramatic first set erased three set balls for their opponents before cashing their fourth opportunity to claim the edge in the match.
In the early stages of the second set they seemed to pay a high price for such an effort as they trailed by as many as six points at 11-5, but produced a sensational comeback to pull out a 24-22 set win that keeps their Olympic dream alive and shapes up a tie with Austria in the quarter-finals.
As for Russia, they still can make it to Rio 2016 if they finish among the top two sides of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Continental Cup tournament they will be hosting in Sochi from July 6 to 10.
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