07/07/2016 22:02
Day to remember at Timisoara Satellite except for top-seeded Russians
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Timisoara
Timisoara, Romania, July 7, 2016. The second day of the CEV Satellite tournament taking place in Timisoara was one to remember as an international Beach Volleyball competition of this calibre is taking place for the second straight year in the Romanian city. Even though there was little success for the home teams and actually both Romanian teams were eliminated, what really matters is that they – like all other players – fought to the best of their abilities through to the end.
The programme started with Romania’s Florina Murariu and Sorina Miclaus, only 14 and 17-years-old respectively, playing the top-seeded pair of the competition, Russia’s Olga Motrich and Yulia Abalakina. The Russians had no problems to cruise to a speedy 21-10, 21-5 victory in only 24 minutes and shortly afterwards Romania’s second team in the Main Draw, Adriana Melniciuc and Diana Tataru also lost their first match in the Main Draw to Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka – but they did surrender only at the tie-break (19-21, 21-7, 15-9).
A number of surprises highlighted the second round of competition especially when Motrich and Abalakina lost to Norway’s Ingrid Lunde/Oda Johanne Ulveseth. The match lasted for 48 minutes and was a joy to watch for the spectators in attendance with the Scandinavian team eventually emerging victorious (14-21, 21-18, 15-8).
The match between Germany’s Kim Behrens/Nadja Glenzke and Poland’s Dorota Strag and Jagoda Gruszczynska was just as exciting and dramatic, with the Germans winning the opening set by the incredible score of 37-35. They lost the second 18-21 before pulling out a 15-13 win at the tie-break. “Anything is possible in this tournament,” Behrens commented. “Our goal is to play better and better with each match. As for the other teams, I can say that there are many good ones playing here. We like the Russians very much but today they lost, so as I said, anything can happen.”
Romania’s tandems returned to the court later in the day as well trying to fight their way back through the losers’ bracket. However, Murariu and Miclaus stood no chance in their matchup with Alise Lece and Marta Ozolina of Latvia which they lost 21-16, 21-9.
As for Tataru and Melniciuc, they were cheered on by some 500 fans in a Balkan derby with Bulgaria’s Irena Mishonova and Svetla Angelova. However, they could not succeed in providing their audience with something to cheer about as they lost another close match at the tie-break – 16-21, 21-17, 13-15.
“Our teams are now eliminated from the competition,” said Romania coach Dan Jitaru. “It is obvious that our young girls, Murariu and Miclaus, did not stand a real chance in their matches with the teams from Russia and Latvia. However, I am very happy because they had the opportunity to play at this level for the first time in their career. This is really important for their development and I want to congratulate them on what they showed and the way they played today. As for Melniciuc and Tataru, I can say that this is a very good team, consisting of two very good players, but unfortunately they still have to develop the right chemistry and to be more consistent.”
The tournament will resume on Friday morning with another round of matches before the eventual winners are crowned on Saturday to follow in the footsteps of Germany’s Cinja Tillmann and Katarina Schillerwein who won gold last year.
Click here for more info including detailed results, a match programme and much more
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