04/09/2016 17:27
Samoilovs and Smedins delight home crowd by taking Jurmala Masters crown
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Jurmala Masters
Jurmala, Latvia, September 4, 2016. The expectations were really high in Jurmala but home stars Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins were able to cope with the pressure and eventually paid back the organisers of the CEV Jurmala Masters as well as the many fans in attendance with the only thing they wanted from them: a gold medal! Nevertheless, they had to come from behind to edge Russia’s sensation Yaroslav Koshkarev and Ruslan Bykanov 18-21, 21-10, 15-12 in a gold medal match played before a sell-out crowd including Latvia’s Head of State, Raimonds Vējonis. The Latvian party was completed by Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza who earlier on Sunday afternoon claimed the bronze medal match with Belgium’s Tom van Walle and Dries Koekelkoren (22-20, 21-12). By taking the Jurmala Masters crown, Smedins and Samoilovs secured a quota spot for Latvia to next year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna.
Samoilovs and Smedins had returned home after a very disappointing Olympics in Rio but already last week had showed they could fight their way back by finishing in third place at the FIVB Grand Slam in Long Beach. Standing on the other side of the net were Koshkarev and Bykanov, who had made it to the ‘grand finale’ without dropping a single set along the way.
The first set kind of set the tone for what was going to follow. The four players were battling with every drop of energy for every single point but though they claimed a 17-15 lead to force a Russian time-out, Samoilovs and Smedins were not able to hold on to it. On the contrary, the Latvians made four errors in a row and after a fifth consecutive Russian point the home stars ended up trailing 17-20. Samoilovs was able to cancel one set ball for his opponents but Bykanov finished it all off at 21-18 by closing the next rally.
The second set of the final was some kind of ‘solo performance’ by the Latvians, who claimed an early 9-3 lead which paved the way to a massive 21-10 win. There was time and room also for some spectacular actions, with Smedins setting the ball by using his chest – and Bykanov emulating him by doing the same towards the end of the set.
The Russians regrouped with the start of the tie-break where it was ‘side-out time’ all the way to 6-5 for Bykanov and Koshkarev. The winners of the EEVZA zonal event contested last week in Jurmala claimed a two-point lead at 7-5 and 8-6 but Samoilovs and Smedins did not lose composure and after levelling the score at 8-all, they started a show that drove the fans just crazy – before the party got started as Bykanov served out of bounds for 15-12 in favour of the home team.
Samoilovs and Smedins were evidently pleased with their home success: “We played pretty o.k. in the first set, but after the Russians asked for a time-out, they kind of broke our rhythm. Janis made a service error and from there it all went wrong for us. In the second set we literally destroyed our opponents, but the Russians had obviously given up quite early and were already focussing on the tie-break,” Samoilovs said. “The tie-break was good for us and of course I am happy with this victory at home.”
Plavins and Regza secure bronze for Latvia
The first act of what the organisers were hoping to be a ‘carmine red’ (Latvia’s national colour) Beach Volleyball party started on Sunday early afternoon under ideal weather conditions and before an almost sell-out crowd on beautiful Majori beach. After losing in the semis to Koshkarev/Bykanov, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Martins Plavins and his young partner Haralds Regza looked extremely motivated to finish their home campaign on a high note but at the same time knew that Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle of Belgium were going to be a hard nut to crack. After a close race, the Latvians claimed two set points at 20-18 on a monster block by Regza but the Belgians responded closing in and levelling the score at 20-all. Plavins piled up a third set point for the home side and this time around it worked just fine as Koekelkoren spiked out of bounds to spark the celebrations among the passionate, yet always pretty composed Latvian audience.
The second set soon turned into a triumphal march for Plavins and Regza who claimed an early 7-4 lead and extended it to 14-7. At this stage the fate of the match seemed already written and so it was – Plavins finished it all off with a spectacular spike (21-12) to delight a large audience including his wife and two kids.
This is the second medal for Regza at a CEV event held in Jurmala – two years ago he had settled for the silver at the Satellite with former partner Armands Abolins after losing the ‘big final’ to compatriots Smedins and Samoilovs. As for Plavins, he never stood on the podium of a CEV event on home soil before since his 2014 and 2015 campaigns with different partners – Aleksandrs Solovejs and Hermans Egleskalns, respectively – ended prematurely before even reaching the semis.
“We did not play our best game in the semis,” Martins Plavins said, “but this time we felt more relaxed and ready. We did not have to warm up because we just had our semi-final. My season is over now. I won’t compete anymore in 2016 while Haralds will go to the last EEVZA zonal tournament of the season in Georgia. It is just incredible to play in front of the Latvian fans, it does not matter if you are leading or trailing, everybody is just cheering you on almost non-stop and that is an amazing feeling! I slept at home this week and this is the perfect way to rest and get ready for the matches.”
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