14/01/2012 23:35
Swiss top team Heuscher/Bellaguarda easily makes it to semis in Aalsmeer
CEV Beach Volleyball Challenger and Satellites
Aalsmeer, Netherlands, January 14, 2012. After another very intensive day of action the draw for the semis of the CEV indoor Satellite running at “The Beach” in Aalsmeer is fixed. On Sunday there will be a Dutch derby with home stars Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil playing youngsters Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen while the second-seeded pair of the tournament, Heuscher/Bellaguarda of Switzerland, will test the likes of Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz of Poland.
Nummerdor/Schuil reasserted their supremacy in the Netherlands although they were provided with some real resistance by their compatriots Emiel Boersma and Daan Spijkers in the third round (21-18, 21-18).
Boersma/Spijkers restarted their campaign from the losers’ bracket taking on the former youth world champions Kadziola/Szalankiewicz. The guests from Poland showed off their quality in the first set leaving no chance to the “Oranjes” (21-13) before Boersma/Spijkers drew level with a classy performance in set 2 (21-15). The tie-break was called and there the Poles played a little better sealing the final 15-12.
Heuscher/Bellaguarda have also played a perfect tournament so far, as on Saturday they easily downed Kadziola/Szalankiewicz and afterwards another duo from Poland, Kantor/Kosiak, also in straight sets (21-17, 21-13). The Swiss stars will have a remake of their game with Kadziola and Szalankiewicz in the semifinals.
Dutch rising stars Brouwer and Meeuwsen got to the semis after going through some kind of a German campaign as they played German duos in the losers’ bracket starting with a straight sets victory over Kaczmarek/Walkenhorst (21-17, 21-19) who got annoyed by some decisions of the local linesmen. Brouwer/Meeuwsen then outclassed an elite team from Germany, David Klemperer and Eric Koreng, also in straight sets (21-14, 21-18) and their last obstacle for a spot among the top 4 of the tournament were Poland’s Kantor/Kosiak, another young up-and-coming team. It was a tough match that the Dutch guys eventually brought home after two close sets (22-20, 21-17) thereby showing once again their incredible potential.
Apart from the men’s competition, the audience enjoyed also the first matches of the Visade Women’s Invitational with Dutch stars Sanne Keizer/Marleen van Iersel edging their compatriots Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel (21-17, 21-15) while Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha and Katrien Gielen got past another Dutch team, Merel Mooren/Jantine van der Vlist (21-18, 21-8).
The tournament comes to a close on Sunday with the semis starting at 11 am and the finals slated for 3 pm.
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