15/01/2012 18:00
Dutch stars reign supreme at CEV indoor Satellite in Aalsmeer
CEV Beach Volleyball Challenger and Satellites
Aalsmeer, Netherlands, January 15, 2012. Home stars Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil claimed this afternoon the second edition of the CEV indoor Satellite held at “The Beach” in Aalsmeer after edging Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz in the final match (21-13, 21-17).
It did not take that long for triple European champions Nummerdor and Schuil to assert their supremacy and even though their young opponents from Poland were playing with great energy, still they could not find a way to avoid the block of Schuil, who killed 8 in the opening set for a massive 21-13 that was quickly stamped on the scoreboard. The guys from Poland trailed 1:6 in set 2 and Nummerdor/Schuil maintained control of the operations until the score stood at 14:7; after that, having nothing more to lose, Kadziola and Szalankiewicz scored three in a row thereby going for a possible comeback, but the home heroes did not agree with this scenario and eventually pocketed the title with a speedy 2:0 (21-17). This is the second consecutive joy for Richard Schuil in Aalsmeer after last year he topped the charts together with Jon Stiekema while his regular partner Nummerdor was nursing an injury.
The consolation final turned into a great show where Swiss veterans Patrick Heuscher and Jefferson Bellaguarda eventually got the upper hand against Dutch rising stars Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen. Heuscher/Bellaguarda, the second seeded pair of the tournament, had lost in the semis to Kadziola/Szalankiewicz at the end of an epic battle (26-28, 22-20, 13-15) while Brouwer/Meeuwsen had been close to cause a sensation by defeating their glorious countrymen before losing at the tie-break (17-21, 21-17, 9-15). The home guys punished their Swiss opponents in the opening set (21-18) but Heuscher and Bellaguarda got back their best play in set 2 to call for the tie-break (21-16) where Heuscher really made the difference by moving the score from 10 all to 13:10 with his floating serve and killing blocks. By this moment the final result was no longer to be questioned and the Swiss duo sealed it at 15-13 to take the bronze medal.
The VISADE Women’s Invitational – an exhibition tournament combined with the Satellite – was also completed with Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel downing in straight sets their compatriots Merel Mooren and Jantine van der Vlist (21-17, 21-17) while Dutch stars Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel – winners of two stops from last year’s FIVB World Tour – got redemption for their defeat from Saturday by edging Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha and Katrin Gielen in three sets (16-21, 21-12, 15-12).
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