24/06/2016 13:15
‘Oranjes’ secure spot in grand finale with tie-break wins over Czech Republic
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Final
Stavanger, Norway, June 24, 2016. The Netherlands are the first team to qualify for the final stage of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup – the ‘Oranjes’ achieved this remarkable feat on Friday morning by stamping a couple of tie-break wins in as many matches they contested with the Czech Republic to keep a clean sheet in the tournament as they previously beat Lithuania and Italy by two wins to none as well. If Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist were kind of expected to have the upper hand in their matchup with Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova, Jolien Sinnema and Rimke Braakman were the surprise package of the day following their come-from-behind 2-1 victory over 2016 European silver medallists Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova.
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Opening the programme of the women’s semis, Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist had to make up for a fairly slow start to their match with Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova. The ‘Oranjes’ lost the opening set (21-18) as their opponents displayed by far their best performance since arriving in Stavanger – the Czechs had previously lost two matches in a row to teams from Slovakia and Spain without winning a set.
However, van Gestel and van der Vlist stepped up their efforts and by putting pressure on the Czech team especially by means of their serve, they claimed a series of five straight points which moved the score from 12-all to 17-12 and this way practically secured their win in the second set (21-15). The tie-break was a close race up to 5-all with both teams completing their side-out before the Dutchwomen broke away (9-6) and capitalised on this three-point lead to cash a 15-10 win and the first point for the Netherlands in the tie with the Czech Republic.
“This match was a pretty difficult one, especially after we had such a slow, a bit sloppy start to it,” van Gestel admitted. “I am happy that we were able to come back and played better and better as the match progressed,” she added. “The Continental Cup is truly a one-of-a-kind event since you do not play only for yourself, but the results of the other team count as well. We feel very lucky that Jolien [Sinnema] and Rimke [Braakman] have been doing so well in this tournament, and thanks to their performance we haven’t had to play a ‘Golden Match’ so far. I believe the Netherlands is one of a very few countries competing here with two teams that are almost equally as strong,” she continued, “with the only other team boasting the same depth and quality being probably Austria. We are very close to Jolien and Rimke, so even though they are kind of playing for us [if Holland qualify a second team to Rio, van Gestel and van der Vlist will be the ones boarding the plane to Brazil], we do support each other a lot.”
Van Gestel already played at the Olympics four years ago with former partner Madelein Meppelink after qualifying for London 2012 via the Continental Cup and she evidently hopes to repeat the same feat. “Actually, our focus so far is not really on qualifying to the Olympics, we just take it one match at a time. You can feel and sense the huge pressure stemming from the high prize which is at stake here, and this factor has already produced a number of surprising results. So, even though playing at the Olympics is the ultimate dream of any athlete, since we are already a bit shaky, we just try to forget about it and focus on winning every match we are playing here.”
Only one hour later Sinnema and Braakman secured a spot in the CEV Continental Cup ‘grand finale’ for the Netherlands as they came from behind to edge 2016 European silver medallists Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova at the tie-break (19-21, 21-19, 15-11).
After losing the opening set, Sinnema and Braakman trailed 11-8 in the second frame of their matchup with the Czech Beach Volleyball stars but produced a 5-2 run to flip the charts around and propel a time-out asked by Slukova and Hermannova after the Dutch team edged ahead 16-15. This is exactly where the course of the match changed – Sinnema and Braakman served and blocked extremely well, and this ultimately resulted in a quite sensational tie-break victory for the ‘Oranjes’.
An emotional Sinnema shed tears of joy after the match: “We played a really good match, and since the Czechs had to win this one to stay alive in the tie, we could play free from any pressure, so this was our advantage going into this clash.” Sinnema and Braakman were visibly happy to add another victory to the count of their team and Sinnema’s tears further testified the team spirit and the kind of cohesion which reign within the Dutch camp: “We so much want to help Sophie and Jantine qualify to the Olympics and I am happy that with this victory we have moved one step closer to the achievement of this goal.”
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