23/08/2015 23:49
Poland’s Kosiak/Rudol survive drama to claim gold at inaugural Skopje Satellite
2015 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Skopje
Skopje, Former Y.R. of Macedonia, August 23, 2015. Poland’s Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol lived up to their status at first-seeded pair of the inaugural CEV Satellite in Skopje and came back strong after losing their first match in the tournament on Friday to eventually top the podium following their 18-21, 25-23, 15-13 victory in a dramatic final with Greece’s Georgios Kotsilianos and Nikos Zoupanis who failed to capitalise on as many as three match balls in the second set.
Kosiak and Rudol, the reigning U23 world champions, struggled to find their way into the game but they emerged victorious after a dramatic battle in the second set and completed their comeback winning the tie-break to claim gold at the inaugural event held in Skopje.
Kotsilianos and Zoupanis claimed 5:2 and 7:3 leads early in the opening set as they combined great defence actions with a solid performance at the net. The Greeks looked very self-confident and stretched their lead to 15:7 and 17:11. Kosiak and Rudol eventually found their way into the game and reduced their deficit down to two points at 17:19. The final section of the opening set provided the audience with some long, entertaining rallies before Kotsilianos/Zoupanis sealed their win at 21-18.
Kosiak/Rudol opened the second set with a 3-0 run but the score was levelled at 3 and again at 6 all. The Poles got back control of the game (10:7, 13:11) before Kotsilianos and Zoupanis responded to make it 13 all. The final rush was an exciting and dramatic one with the teams exchanging the lead back and forth; Kotsilianos and Zoupanis had as many as three match balls, but failed to cash any of them. They asked for a time-out but this could not prevent Kosiak and Rudol from completing their comeback and taking the set home at 25-23.
The Greek tandem got up 2:1 early in the tie-break but Kosiak/Rudol flipped the charts around at 5:3; Kotsilianos and Zoupanis cut their gap down to one point at 7:6 and 9:8 but Kosiak/Rudol seemed to have found their best play and eased past at 14:12 to claim two match balls of their own. They failed to cash the first one but after a time-out they regrouped and brought the match to an end at 15-13.
Belgian boys Koekelkoren/Van Walle settle for bronze
Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren and Tom Van Walle finished their campaign in Skopje on a high note claiming bronze after edging Denmark’s Peter Kildegaard and Kristoffer Abell (21-16, 21-16) in the ‘small final’. The Danes opened the match with a positive 4-1 run but their opponents responded quickly cutting their deficit down to one point at 5:6. They then used some errors by their rivals to draw level at 8 all and again at 10:10. Two consecutive points propelled the first lead in the game for Koekelkoren and Van Walle who were able to hold on to it through to the end of the set. Van Walle was just rock-solid at blocking and as the Danes made a lot of mistakes, the first set came to a happy end for the Belgians at 21-16.
The second set was some kind of routine for Koekelkoren and Van Walle who quickly jumped ahead at 5:1 and continued to set the pace of the game later on as well (11:6, 17:10). Kildegaard and Abell tried to stop the march of their opponents with a time-out but they could not really slow their pace down. In the end, Koekelkoren and Van Walle stamped another 21-16 to settle for bronze at the inaugural CEV Satellite tournament in Skopje.
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