10/08/2013 23:00
Köhler/Schumacher win dramatic final in Vaduz
2013 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Vaduz
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 10, 2013. The gods showed some mercy for the next-to-last day of action at the CEV Satellite tournament in Vaduz: after a rainy day on Friday, all clouds were gone and the weather was more than pleasant in the capital of Liechtenstein as Jana Köhler/Anni Schumacher of Germany emerged as the winners of the women’s tournament.
They had made the semis after starting their campaign on Wednesday with the Country Quota but Austria’s Bianca Zass and Sabine Swoboda simply had no more fuel and they lost their semifinal game in straight sets to Germany’s Teresa Mersmann/Isabel Schneider (12-21, 19-21). In the other semi, Germany’s Jana Köhler/Anni Schumacher literally routed last year’s winners Romana Kayser and Muriel Graessli (21-9, 21-19) showing their absolute supremacy especially in a speedy first set.
Kayser and Graessli could nevertheless be happy as they settled for bronze by dominating the small final as they downed Zass/Swoboda in only 32 minutes of play (21-15, 21-11). Graessli was searching for her third straight title in Vaduz – and fourth overall – but she was nevertheless quite pleased with the outcome of the tournament. “We are simply delighted with this bronze medal. We lost in the semifinals to a very strong team but in this game we did show that we deserve to be on the podium”.
In what was a world-class final game, Köhler/Schumacher beat their countrywomen Mersmann and Schneider after 74 minutes of play (19-21, 27-25, and 30-28). Teresa Mersmann/Isabel Schneider had the chance to finish it off in the second set as they were leading by four points there but they did not capitalize on this and eventually lost a dramatic and never-ending tie-break.
In the men’s tournament first-seeded Mirco Gerson and Alexei Prawdzic of Switzerland got back on track and found their way to the semis via the losers’ bracket. They first beat Austria’s Peter Eglseer and Felix Koraimann (21-16, 16-21, 21-19) in what was another stellar game with monster blocks, spectacular defense actions and nerve-wracking side-out rallies. In the following game they again needed a tie-break but eventually could get past Russia’s Romashkin/Khudyakov 17-21, 21-19, and 15-13. On Sunday they will play Germany’s Armin Dollinger/Jonas Schröder in the first semifinal scheduled at 11 am while in the second 2012 U20 European champions Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig of Austria will take on Danish brothers Anders and Soeren Hoyer. The bronze medal match will follow at 5 pm with the big final scheduled one hour later.
The CEV Satellite tournament in Vaduz is celebrating its ninth edition this year; in 2012 more than 10,000 fans flocked to the venue of the tournament. As the teams battle for FIVB ranking points and 15,000 € prize money, a stadium with a capacity of 1,000 has been set up in downtown Vaduz.
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