Vilnius, Lithuania, June 29, 2014.  Estonia took the first place in Pool F of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup’s first round after a dramatic victory over Cyprus in the final match-up in Vilnius.  Both teams made it directly to the third round after winning Sunday’s semifinals against Lithuania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively.  These two teams, along with fifth-placed Moldova will have to go through the second round later this summer.

Estonia 2, Lithuania 0

In the first men’s semifinal match-up, immediately after the Lithuanian women’s team qualified to the third round, the local fans expected the men to do the same. However, this dream did not come true.  In the first match Rokas Kondrotas / Motiejus Melynis lost to Estonia’s Kristo Kollo / Rivo Vesik by 0:2 (14-21, 17-21). The first home team, Arnas Rumsevicius / Lukas Kazdailis, could take revenge by beating Maksim Petrov / Aleksei Povjakel, but the Estonians one more time proved their superiority winning by 2:0 (21-14, 21-14).

Kristo Kollo, Estonia:  “We are surprised by such an easy victory over Lithuania.  Yesterday the home team played definitely better.  Today there is wind and maybe it had the negative impact to the young Lithuanian guys.  Both our teams are much more experienced to play in such conditions.  Maksim and Aleksei were performing better today as well.  Yesterday they felt a bit tired after long traveling and for today they have recovered.  It does not matter if we face Cyprus or Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final.  If we concentrate and play our game, we will win.”

Cyprus 2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1

In the other semifinal, Cyprus faced Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was the golden match that decided the outcome of this match-up.  In the first game Cypriots Dimitris Apostolou / Vladimir Knezevic did not encounter any problems with Luka Sormaz / Nenad Sormaz from Bosnia and Herzegovina defeating them by 2:0 (21-12, 21-15).  However, the next match was more competitive and the second duo of Cyprus Anthimos Economides / Georgios Platritis lost to Drago Teodorovic / Zarko Kisic by 0:2 (19-21, 15-21).  In the decisive golden match, Apostolou / Knezevic fought hard with Teodorovic / Kisic and won by 2:0 (21-17, 21-15).

Vladimir Knezevic, Cyprus:  “We were good in reception and side out, our counterattacks also worked well.  In the final we will face the strong Estonian team.  Their first duo demonstrate top level volleyball.  But that is the beauty of the sport that we improve playing against such strong teams.  We will not feel any pressure as both teams have already qualified to the third round.  So we will try to play our game and do our best.“  

Estonia 2, Cyprus 1

Estonia, the top-seeded team of Pool F, faced Cyprus in the final and, once again, a golden match determined the winner.  Kristo Kollo / Rivo Vesik expectedly beat Anthimos Economides / Georgios Platritis by 2:0 (21-10, 21-13) in just 27 minutes.  However, the second Estonian team Petrov / Povjakel lost to Apostolou / Knezevic by 0:2 (17-21, 16-21).  In the golden match both Estonias‘s Kollo / Vesik and Cyprus‘s Apostolou / Knezevic demonstrated a beautiful game and big will to win. The second set went well into overtime, but the Estonians eventually proved their superiority one more time defeating the Cypriots by 2:0 (21-14, 27-25).

Kristo Kollo, Estonia:  “The final was not easy for us as we had to play two important matches in a row with only one and a half hours break. The first set of the golden match was fine, but later I felt tired, my legs refused to work, I lost the height.  The Cypriots started to serve at me and it was a clever decision.  Finally everything ended up well for us.”