Fethiye, Turkey, September 19, 2014. Italy’s Enrico Rossi / Giacomo De Fabritiis emerged as winners of Pool C at the men’s 2014 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship and qualified directly for the second elimination round after a dramatic victory in their last pool match over Germany’s Bennet Poniewaz / David Poniewaz.
This was one of the best games so far in the tournament. Both teams had not lost a single set in their first day’s games and the deciding game for the first place was very close. After five sets, the Italian duo eventually defeated the Poniewaz twins by 3:2 (10-15, 17-15, 15-8, 12-15, 11-9).
The Italian team was very happy to have the victory after a great effort. “We played against a very strong team today. They played in last U22 European Championship’s semifinals,” said Enrico Rossi. “But we played very well. We won a great match. Now we are in the last 16. This is magnificent. Our next games will be even harder because all teams will be very strong at this stage. I hope we can maintain our good performance from the last game we played.”
“We played very well in the last pool match,” Giacomo De Fabritiis added. “Germany was our strongest opponent in Pool C. We stayed concentrated during the whole game. We are very happy to qualify for the second round.”
Hasan Huseyin Mermer / Sefa Urlu, Turkey’s only victorious team on the first competition day on Thursday, made a great comeback against the French duo Maxime Thiercy / Alexis Gras. Despite falling 0:2 behind after the second set, the home heroes showed their talents and eventually won the game by 3:2 (11-15, 12-15, 15-4, 17-15, 7-5). Mermer / Urlu are the only one of the four Turkish teams to make it to the next stage. They finished in the second place in their Pool A after Christoph Dressler / Benedikt Kattner from Austria.
Runar Torsvik Sannarnes / Christian Sandlie Sorum from Norway, Max Betzien / Mirko Schneider from Germany, Nico Beeler / Marco Krattiger from Switzerland, Kristoffer Abell / Martin Trans Hansen from Denmark and two pairs from Poland - Maciej Kosiak / Maciej Rudol and Michal Bryl / Kacper Kujawiak, are the other pool winners advancing directly to the eighthfinals on Saturday.
Click here for more detailed information on the competition.
All Court 1 and Court 2 action in Fethiye is streamed live on LAOLA1.tv.