02/05/2015 18:45
Poland and Estonia off to strong start in Vilnius, Lithuania through to Round 4
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men
Vilnius, Lithuania, May 2, 2015. The 3rd Round tournament – Pool F of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup got started on Saturday morning in Vilnius with Poland and Estonia cruising past hosts Lithuania and Serbia, respectively, to claim a spot in the ‘big final’ whose eventual winners will win a ticket to the Continental Cup finals scheduled for next year. The home heroes of Lithuania got back on track later in the afternoon edging Serbia at the ‘golden match’ to secure their qualification to Round 4 coming up later this summer.
Click here for further information including results and a detailed match programme
The 3rd Round tournaments are being covered extensively also on the CEV’s Facebook page and Twitter account, make sure you also use the official hashtag #CEVContinentalCup!
Poland vs. Lithuania 2:0
The programme of the day got started at Credit24 Arena with pre-favourites Poland playing the home heroes of Lithuania. Poland’s world-class team Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel easily beat home rookies Andrius Gaidys/Paulius Matulis in two consecutive sets (21-11, 21-17). However, the second match of this tie was a lot closer as the bronze medallists from last year’s U20 European Championships, Arnas Rumsevicius and Lukas Kazdailis, drove the local fans crazy as they put on a real fight in their match with Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz. The home guys set the pace by three/four points up to the 19 mark in the first set but in the end their opponents used their experience to finish it off with four straight points to make it 21-19. Everything was then easy for Kadziola and Szalankiewicz who comfortably won the second set by 21-12.
Polish star Grzegorz Fijalek said: “I had never been in Vilnius before and I really like the city and the venue of this tournament. There are no easy matches for us and we are trying to play our best all the time. We need to stay concentrated from start to end because one or two mistakes may change the course of the match completely. Our coach is currently analysing the matches between Estonia and Serbia so that we can get well prepared for the final.”
Home hero Andrius Gaidys said: “We and the Polish teams are playing at completely different levels at the moment, but this was a useful experience for us. Now we can clearly see where we need to improve and how we have to train. This year we are going to participate in many international tournaments as we want to gain more experience and I am confident that in a couple of years you will see us playing different Beach Volleyball.”
Estonia vs. Serbia 2:0
Estonia’s second best team Karl Jaani/Rain Raud had quite some problems in their match up with Serbia’s Stefan Basta/Rasko Jovanovic which they eventually claimed only at the tie-break (19-21, 22-20, 15-7). Estonia’s stars Rivo Vesik/Kristo Kollo followed up with a fairly easy 21-18, 21-15 win over Marko Galesev/Lazar Kolaric to claim a spot in the ‘big final’ of Pool F.
Kristo Kollo commented: “Before this match we only had four training sessions with Rivo, so the start was pretty difficult for us. We did not know anything about this Serbian team, so we just came and tried to perform our best. Now we are set to play the teams from Poland, we know that they are the favourites in this pool but this does not mean that we stand no chance to win. There are always chances in sport and so we are only thinking about a victory and we will be striving for that.”
Marko Galesev of Serbia said: “I think that both teams did not play their best. We can play better than we did and I am sure that the Estonian pair can perform better too. They are much more experienced than us, especially Rivo Vesik. Now we will play against Lithuania and I hope that our coach who has been filming their games will provide us with some useful insights.”
Lithuania vs. Serbia 2:1
To complete Saturday’s programme Lithuania and Serbia returned to the sand in an effort to stay alive in the competition. A second loss would indeed have meant their elimination from the Continental Cup with all dreams about participation in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro vanishing in thin air. The first match of this tie was a close one but in the end Serbia’s Stefan Basta and Rasko Jovanovic played with more consistency and accuracy to claim a 2:0 win over Andrius Gaidys and Paulius Matulis (21-19, 21-16). The fans in attendance at the Credit24 Arena were treated well in the second match where home heroes Arnas Rumsevicius and Lukas Kazdailis cruised to a 21-17, 21-18 win over Marko Galesev and Lazar Kolaric. A ‘golden match’ was needed to determine the eventual winner of this contest and a tough and emotional game ended in a 2:0 (21-16, 21-17) victory for Rumsevicius/Kazdailis over Basta/Jovanovic.
The local team, bronze medallists at last year’s U20 European Championships in Cesenatico, was pleased with that performance. “We are very happy to win this match and to secure our participation in the next round of the Continental Cup. We want to thank all of our fans, it is an amazing feeling to see such crowded arena and to get to feel their support,” Rumsevicius and Kazdailis said.
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