06/08/2015 22:01
Hosts march on in women’s Main Draw at Biel/Bienne Masters
2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Biel/Bienne Masters
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, August 6, 2015. The opening day of the women’s Main Draw at the Biel/Bienne Masters yielded another great outing for the Swiss women with two of the home teams progressing straight to the elimination stage following their respective pool matches on Thursday.
Click here for further info including detailed results, pictures and much more
The 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – Biel/Bienne Masters is being covered extensively also on Twitter and Facebook with the official hashtags being #EuroBeachVolley and #Beachmania
On a warm morning in Biel, the players took to the sand before the fans in perfect Volleyball weather for the start of the women’s Main Draw. What the spectators were treated to in the first game only served as a sign of things to come.
It was tournament favourites and reigning Swiss champs Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr who featured in the Pool A opening game of the day on centre court, sweeping aside their opponents in two sets. Having followed up by doubling their tally of victories in a tense 2-1 win over Polish duo Karolina Baran/Jagoda Gruszczynska – the reigning U22 European champions – on Thursday afternoon, they are now already through to the elimination stage.
The other Swiss tandem to book their place in the next round with two wins was last year’s silver medallists Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Vergé-Dépré in Pool B, who opened their account at the Biel/Bienne Masters with a convincing two-set win. Their second match was a much tougher examination against Germany’s Teresa Mersmann/Isabel Schneider – winners of this year’s CEV Satellites in Molodechno and Vaduz – and the multitude of spectators in attendance at centre court were treated to a fantastic game which the Swiss claimed by two sets to one.
And yet there was some disappointment for the home fans. In Pool C, the inexperience of Dunja Gerson/Tanya Guerra Arias-Schmocker proved costly as they slipped to an early two-set defeat which set up a key evening clash with Katharina Schützenhöfer/Lena Plesiutschnig of Austria. Despite their best efforts they fell to an agonising 1-2 defeat, leaving their hopes of progression hanging by a thread. The expectations also proved too much for Baku 2015 European Games champions Nina Betschart/Nicole Eiholzer who suffered two defeats by two sets to none to leave them languishing at the bottom of Pool D with one game left to play.
On the other hand, Czech duo Lenka Hajeckova/Sona Novakova Dosoudilova and Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Julia Grossner registered two wins each to progress from their respective pools. Former European champion Stefanie Schwaiger and partner Barbara Hansel of Austria also claimed victory in both of their matches on Thursday to top Pool C and reach the elimination rounds.
For every team that has managed to secure a place in the elimination stage, there is another for which their final match on Friday will be a make-or-break bout. With several places at the 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Biel/Bienne Masters at stake, the final round of matches in the Women’s Main Draw will not be for the faint hearted.
|