08/08/2015 20:00
Switzerland, Ukraine, France & Lithuania book semifinal spots at U18 European Championship in Riga
2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Riga, Latvia, August 8, 2015. After a long and sunny Saturday the men’s tournament of the 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship got down to four teams. Florian Breer / Yves Haussener (Switzerland), Tymofii Poluian / Dmytro Vietskiy (Ukraine), Rémi Bassereau / Timothée Platre (France) and Audrius Knasas / Aurimas Mazuras (Lithuania) all made it to the semifinals. Despite the support of the great crowd, the last Latvian team (Mihails Samoilovs / Aleksandrs Nasonovs) was eliminated.
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The 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Riga is being covered extensively also on Twitter and Facebook with the official hashtag being #EuroBeachVolleyU18
Round 1
No big surprises happened in the first elimination round. The reigning U17 World champions Florian Breer / Yves Haussener from Switzerland booked an easy 2-0 victory over Turkey. Also the other favourite teams made no mistakes in this stage of the tournament. Adam Lenc and Maciej Lewicki, the Polish silver medallists from last year, beat Czech Republic with 2-0, while the strong French team Rémi Bassereau / Timothée Platre had no trouble with Germany.
Besides Switzerland, Poland and France, also Slovakia, Ukraine, Italy, Greece and Latvia survived the first cut.
Round 2
The eight teams mentioned above met with the eight pool winners in round 2. A very exciting match was played on court 2, where the gold medal winner of last year’s U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship, Sven Winter from Germany, challenged the current U17 World champions from Switzerland. After three thrilling sets, the Swiss guys managed to proceed to the quarterfinals.
In a Latvian private affair, Mihails Samoilovs / Aleksandrs Nasonovs eliminated their training partners Rihards Lazdins and Ervins Aboms. Besides Switzerland and Latvia, also Spain, Poland, Ukraine, France, Austria and Lithuania made it to the last eight.
Quarterfinals
The best quarterfinal match was without a doubt the one between Spain and Switzerland. Both teams showed high-level Beach Volleyball. All four players showed they have a bright future on the sand ahead of them. In the end the U17 World champions from Switzerland showed a little more class. Florian Breer / Yves Haussener are still on their way to write history and claim both the World and the European title.
Unfortunately for Latvia the dream of Mihails Samoilovs / Aleksandrs Nasonovs to win gold was shattered by Lithuania. Samoilovs and Nasonovs tried everything they could, but surprisingly Lithuania was just too strong.
Together with Switzerland and Lithuania, also Ukraine and France advanced to the semifinals.
Sunday
On Sunday the semifinals, the bronze medal match and the final will be played. The losers of the quarterfinals play on in the classification matches for the 5th – 8th place.
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