22/06/2014 16:32
Finns, Serbia progress to Continental Cup 3rd Round
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men
Kardzhali, Bulgaria, June 22, 2014. Finland had something more to celebrate on Sunday in Kardzhali as their men’s pairs emulated their countrywomen claiming the final match of the 1st Round tournament on schedule this weekend to progress straight to the 3rd Round of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The Finns did so by edging Serbia in the final for first place by two victories to one. Serbia came back strong later in the afternoon as they edged hosts Bulgaria to pocket the remaining ticket available to by-pass the 2nd Round of the competition. Bulgaria and Albania will start their quest once more later this summer with the second stage of the Continental Cup whose dates and venues are still to be determined.
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1st place Final
Serbia vs. Finland 1:2
Though they did not have it that easy, Serbia’s top team Sinisa Antonic and Marko Galesev – who earlier this year had celebrated their debut on the FIVB World Tour – edged their opponents Jyrki Nurminen and Harri Suonikko in straight sets (21-14, 21-16). Serbia’s second pair Stefan Basta and Miljan Kikovic got to test the skills of Finland’s top duo, Timo Haavisto and Toni Vahela. The Finns came back strong after losing the opening set (17-21) to sweep the two that followed (21-12, 15-12) and call for the so-called “golden match” to determine the eventual winner of this country vs. country tie. Haavisto and Vahela showed nerves of steel after losing the first set of their match with Antonic and Galesev (21-23), keeping cool in a dramatic second set which they won by the same score (23-21) and then dominated from start to end in the final tie-breaker (15-6) to celebrate their qualification for the 3rd Round of the competition coming up next year.
“We expected our victory in the women’s tournament and we almost had no doubts that our players would have come out on top,” said Finland’s head coach Kai Liukkonen. “It was much tougher with the men where we were confronted with difficult situations, especially in the matches with Serbia. We are proud of our men and women, though we expect more from the girls who have more potential and on whom we have focused our investments. We hope to continue the same way and win also the next tournaments. It takes a lot of hard work and training to achieve these results. I would like to stress that the organisation of this tournament here in Bulgaria has been very good. The court is just perfect. We would like to return here once more in the future.”
On the other hand, Serbia’s mentor Marko Stojanovic sounded pretty frustrated: “We did not have enough power left to win also the tie-breaker, where my boys did not play that good. We had our chances to win points but we missed them. However, we do not give in and we look forward to the next matches. We still have to play Bulgaria for second place and we have to keep our focus and high spirits for the next matches which I hope will end in our favour.”
2nd and 3rd place Final
Serbia vs. Bulgaria 2:0
After losing to Finland earlier in the day, the players from Serbia got back on track later in the afternoon thereby upsetting also the local audience in Kardzhali as they scored two straight victories over the home heroes of Bulgaria. Stefan Basta and Miljan Kikovic edged Konstantin Mitev and Nikolay Kolev in straight sets (21-18, 21-19) to claim Serbia’s first point in the “small final” and after that Sasa Antonic and Marko Galesev battled it hard with Delcho Raev and Kirill Hadzhiev, especially in the first set (27-25), before closing the match in 46 minutes (21-16).
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