30/06/2012 23:00
Two Swiss teams make it to semis in Lausanne
CEV Beach Volleyball Challenger & Satellites
Lausanne, Switzerland, June 30, 2012. Two Swiss duos, Heuscher/Bellaguarda and Gerson/Gabathuler, advanced on Saturday to the semifinals of the CEV Satellite in Lausanne to play there Estonia’s Kollo/Vesik and Dittelbach/Drössler of Germany on Sunday morning.
While Heuscher/Bellaguarda easily qualified for the semis by downing Thomas Kunert and Lorenz Petutschnig of Austria in straight sets (21-18, 21-15), quite many surprises were to be witnessed on Saturday at the venue which is located in Place de la Navigation, the real “heart” there in the Olympic city of Lausanne.
Gerson/Gabathuler joined their compatriots in the semis after beating Kollo/Vesik in straight sets too (21-19, 21-16), but the guys from Estonia also found their way to the semifinals as they stormed back from behind in their next match against Damian Wojtasik and Jaroslaw Lech of Poland (15-21, 21-19, and 19-17).
Rivo Vesik, who has a long experience from the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, commented: “I think this was one of the best games of the tournament in terms of atmosphere and quality of play. The spectators were just incredible as they cheered on us all along the way. It is the first time that I am playing here in Lausanne and the organization is just perfect. If we play our best we can beat anyone here and yes, we somehow expected to make it to the semis even though I have been playing with Kristo only for two months". Vesik and partner Kristo Kollo will have their next stop on Sunday at 11:30 as they play Heuscher and Bellaguarda in the semis. "I like the idea of playing against Patrick, he is an old friend as we have been touring together for 10 years. I have won quite many times against him while playing with my former partner and I hope to repeat this feat also tomorrow. Heuscher and Bellaguarda have qualified for the London Olympics, so it is good that we can test ourselves against such a strong duo" continued Vesik.
Germany’s Finn Dittelbach and Steffen Drössler remain nevertheless the major sensation of the tournament as they also cruised to the semifinals to test out their likes there against the second-seeded pair of the tournament, Mirco Gerson and Philip Gabathuler. "We are tired but very happy" said Drössler after their 2:1 win over Kunert/Petutschnig. "This is just our first tournament together and if someone had told us on Wednesday that we would have made it to the semis, I certainly would not have believed in such a prediction". "Our participation was confirmed only this Wednesday, so one day before the start of the tournament, and we are lucky that we live in Stuttgart so we could drive straight to Lausanne" added partner Finn Dittelbach. "Our goal is to represent Germany at the U23 European Championship in Assen but this is not easy because we have so many good teams there. We sometimes have problems to get the necessary entry points to make it even to the country quotas but with this result in Lausanne we hope to improve our ranking and get the chance to participate in other international tournaments this summer".
On Sunday there will also be a special exhibition match to raise funds for a local charity and starring the players of the Lausanne hockey club that will be challenging a team formed by players of the Lausanne Université Volleyball club, the Cossonay women’s team as well as delegates from the local division of Swiss Volley.
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