04/09/2016 17:09
Laboureur/Sude lead German clean sweep of women’s podium at Jurmala Masters
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Jurmala Masters
Jurmala, Latvia, September 4, 2016. Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude had travelled to Latvia earlier this week knowing that they were the heavy favourites to win the CEV Jurmala Masters. The top-seeded Germans eventually lived up to their role and completed their triumphal march in Latvia’s ‘summer capital’ by claiming the gold medal match with their countrywomen Isabel Schneider and Teresa Mersmann 21-13, 22-20. As a result, they also secured a country spot for Germany to next year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna. Actually Germany completed a clean sweep of the podium for Victoria Bieneck and Julia Grossner easily took the bronze medal match with a commanding 21-16, 21-9 victory over Russia’s Olga Motrich and Daria Rudykh.
A ‘derby’ is always something special in any sport, not only in Beach Volleyball, but taking into account the depth of Germany’s Beach Volleyball programme where almost up to 10 teams are battling to enter international competitions, the gold medal match of the Jurmala Masters was expected to turn into a close affair.
And so it was even though the two German teams had hit different roads to progress to the ‘grand finale’. Laboureur and Sude were the top-seed of the tournament held on Majori beach, whilst Schneider and Mersmann had started their campaign already on Thursday with the qualification round. Nevertheless, Mersmann and Schneider put up a fight and the score remained close up to 10-10. After that, Laboureur and Sude changed gear and scored 11 out of the following 14 points to comfortably win the opening set (21-13).
Cheered on by a group of German fans and playing under the eyes of Latvia’s Head of State, Mr Raimonds Vējonis, and an almost sell-out crowd waiting for the final act of the men’s tournament starring home heroes Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs, the four German ladies looked all equally determined to deliver a real show. After a close start to the second set, this time around it came down to the wire and Mersmann/Schneider even had set ball at 20-19. Still, they could not capitalise on this opportunity and Laboureur/Sude scored three in a row to bring the match and the women’s tournament to an end (22-20).
It is interesting to note that Laboureur/Sude – though they won the Major Series event held earlier this summer in Porec, Croatia – did not make it to the Rio 2016 Olympics because of the above mentioned depth of Germany’s programme. However, they are capping their 2016 season in the best way for only last Sunday they won bronze at the FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam in the USA and now gold on Latvian soil. “We came here as the heavy favourites, so there was a bit of pressure on us, but we are happy that in the end we were able to live up to this status and to the expectations. As a result, this victory means even more to us,” Laboureur and Sude said.
Bieneck and Grossner complete clean sweep of the podium for Team Germany
German teams have been the dominant force in Jurmala this week and the bronze medal match was no exception to this trend, it actually further cemented this trend. Victoria Bieneck and Julia Grossner were simply not to stop and needed only 27 minutes to stamp a 21-16, 21-9 win over Russia’s Olga Motrich and Daria Rudykh. The second set was especially one-sided with Grossner causing most of the ‘damage’ with her serve. This way Bieneck and Grossner made amends for the close loss they had suffered in pool play on Friday morning when their debut on Majori beach resulted in a 22-20, 19-21, 17-19 setback to the same Russian team.
“We are happy with this bronze medal but of course we wanted to win yesterday’s semi-final,” Victoria Bieneck said. “It is always a close call when two German teams play each other and yes, German women’s teams are a force to be reckoned with as you can see from this tournament as well.”
Bieneck and Grossner were cheered on by a group of German fans who returned to Jurmala for the second straight day – they are staying currently in Riga following the Olympic qualification tournament where Germany’s men’s ice hockey national team are vying for a spot to be among those that will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea. “The conditions and location of this tournament remind us of the Baltic Sea Coast back home in Germany,” Bieneck and Grossner said, “the tournament was very well organised, so we really liked it here and we felt like being at home. Next week we have the German national championship in Timmendorf, where the conditions are very similar to what we found here in Jurmala, so we can say that we prepared in the best way for the last highlight and final event of our season. As for the German fans, it was really cool to have them here, so we are now thinking that maybe tonight we can pay them back by visiting the match where our ice hockey players will be trying to qualify to the Olympics.”
Though the competition at home is really tough, Bieneck and Grossner are hoping to return to Jurmala next year when the Latvian ‘summer capital’ will play host to the European Championship Final: “This is definitely one of our future goals,” Bieneck said. If they make the cut and will be one of the German teams competing in Jurmala next summer, Bieneck and Grossner will be trying to improve on the outstanding fourth place they claimed in 2014 when the EuroBeachVolley took place on another sandy beach, though a way further down to the south – in Cagliari, Italy. There Bieneck and Grossner lost the bronze medal match to their countrywomen Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst who a couple of weeks ago were crowned the 2016 Olympic champions on Copacabana.
As for Rudykh and Motrich, the Russians failed to repeat the feat they achieved a week ago in Jurmala when they won a bronze medal at an EEVZA zonal event, but the level of the competition this time around was significantly higher.
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