10/09/2014 17:36
Teams from Netherlands, Czech Republic, Finland, and Germany complete women’s main draw at Baku Masters
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Baku Masters
Baku, Azerbaijan, September 10, 2014. The Baku Masters – fifth and last stop of this year’s CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – got underway on Wednesday at Heyat Rest Area on the shores of the Caspian Sea with the women’s qualification round. Teams from Finland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany got the right to join the main draw starting on Thursday. The eventual winners and runners-up of the Baku Masters will claim a spot for their respective country in the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in the Netherlands.
Germany’s Victoria Bieneck (see picture) and Julia Grossner – who earlier this year displayed a phenomenal performance at the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Cagliari where they ended up in fourth place – claimed a ticket to the main draw after edging Greece’s Dimitra Manavi and Ioanna Parisaki in three sets (21-23, 21-14, 15-6). The young girls from Greece had travelled to Baku after performing at the CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship held last week in Cesenatico where they had finished in 17th place. Bieneck and Grossner imposed their quality in the first set with strong attacks but the Greek girls responded well by cruising to the final 23-21 in their favour. Bieneck and Grossner then easily controlled the second set (21-14) and did the same also in the tie-break (15-6) where they got the much desired ticket to the main draw.
2013 European champion Stefanie Schwaiger and her new partner Lisa Chukwuma failed to progress to the main draw after losing to Martina Bonnerova and Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic at the end of a dramatic match that lasted for one hour (22-20, 27-29, 10-15). After losing a close first set, the Czech girls – winners of this year’s MEVZA Championship in Linz – did not surrender and eventually brought it home with a spectacular performance in the decisive tie-break.
Rimke Braakman and Jantine van der Vlist of the Netherlands were also promoted to the main draw following their 21-15, 21-19 victory over Ksenia Dabizha and Yulia Abalakina of Russia. “This tournament is being organised at a very high level and Baku is a beautiful city,” Rimke and Jantine said after their victory. “Today we did our best, we really wanted to win and in the end we achieved our goal in this match. However, this is just the very beginning and there are many strong teams that we have to play now in the main draw. As usual, we will be trying to play our best and possibly to win again. I believe that the teams from Germany and Slovakia are the strongest competitors in this field. We also have to be careful as the wind and the weather conditions may affect the development of our next matches.”
Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen and Taru Lahti – winners of this year’s CEV Satellite in Vaduz – also made the main draw with a speedy 21-12, 21-15 win against Ukraine’s Elizaveta Sulima and Dar’ya Udovenko. “We had some problems in reception because of the wind but in the end we won and I am very happy with our performance,” Lehtonen said. “We have more difficult and interesting matches now still to come in the main draw,” added the Finnish player who returned to Baku after spending one season with the team of Igtisadchi a couple of years ago. “I am happy to be here, it feels like home,” she said.
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