05/09/2015 11:53
‘Suomis’ on to women’s final at #EuroBeachVolleyU20, Oranjes join them
2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Larnaka, Cyprus, September 5, 2015. Finland is once again making the headlines at the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship, which is being held in Larnaka. It seemed that the men’s tandem having qualified into the semi-finals have triggered the ambitions of the Finnish women’s team, Ida Sinisalo and Niina Ahtiainen. The Finnish girls qualified into tonight’s ‘big final’ at the expense of the two Viktoryias from Belarus, Shalayeuskaya and Siakretava, edging past in three sets (15-21, 21-19, 15-11).
Sinisalo and Ahtiainen, who won the bronze medal at last year’s U18 European Championship in Norway, did not make the perfect start losing the first set. The crucial point of the match came late in the second set, with the scores level at 19-19. The girls from Belarus made a crucial mistake thus giving their opponents set point. From that point onwards, and during the whole of the third set, the team from Finland played very well winning 15-11.
“Why should the men get all the glory?” asked Sinisalo and added: “It’s true that we took advantage of their error late in the second set, but we played superbly well throughout the whole match.”
“This is a big, big result for us, as we are still in the learning process. It’s also excellent news for our country, and let us hope that the boys emulate us and will play in the final of their event. It will be great if Finland has two teams in the respective finals,” said partner Ahtiainen.
The women’s team from The Netherlands will be Finland’s opponents in the much-anticipated gold medal match coming up tonight. The Russian girls Nadezhda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina took an early lead but Joy Stubbe and Nika Daalderop had all the answers winning the first set 21-18. The second set was equally close, but once the Dutch players went to the front they managed to retain their lead until the end of the set winning 21-15.
The fact that Stubbe and Daalderop were not favourites in this event makes their entry into tonight’s final an even bigger achievement. And, one thing is for certain, Dutch Beach Volleyball players are continuing their impressive recent form shown in big events, representing their country with flying colours.
In the Russian camp, it was not all gloom and doom despite the defeat. “If someone had told me at the beginning of the competition that our girls will play in the semi-final, I would have been very happy. Svetlana made too many mistakes especially in the second set, but let’s not forget that this was only her first international tournament,” said coach Oleg Kiselev.
You can follow the competition also on social media with the official hashtag #EuroBeachVolleyU20
Click here for more info including entry lists, results, pictures and much more
|