Montpellier, France, June 17, 2014.  The third CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite for 2014 is already underway in the French city of Montpellier.  The first match of this women-only tournament was the only one that took place on Tuesday afternoon and marked the official start of the competition.

The spectators in Montpellier saw a beautiful country quota clash between two teams from Norway.  Irmelin Torsvik Sannarnes / Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland and Vilde Solvoll / Ingrid Lunde were the two lowest-ranked of the four registered Norwegian teams, so one of them had to go.

It was a very closely fought match.  The two duos took the first set battle well into overtime.  Three more tough sets followed and after a total of 56 minutes of play, Sannarnes / Hjortland emerged victorious with a 3:1 (20-18, 12-15, 15-13, 15-11) victory and a ticket to Wednesday’s qualification tournament in hand.

Sand court action at Odysseum’s Theatre Helios in Montpellier will resume tomorrow at 09:30 local time.  A 24-team qualification tournament will determine the last eight participants in the main draw scheduled to start on Thursday.

Click here for more information on the tournament.