03/05/2015 18:42
Poland’s men through to Continental Cup finals!
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men
Vilnius, Lithuania, May 3, 2015. Poland secured on Sunday morning their qualification to the final stage of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup scheduled for next year as the men’s teams from this country recorded two straight wins over their opponents from Estonia. The competition in Pool F came to a close in the afternoon as Estonia got the upper hand over hosts Lithuania at the ‘golden match’ to settle for second place and claim a better seeding in Round 4 of the Continental Cup 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. Estonia 2:0
Poland’s world-class duo Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel (pictured) opened the programme on a cold Sunday morning cruising to a 21-15, 21-16 victory over Estonia’s Karl Jaani and Rain Raud. The second match was already a last call for Estonia who lined up their best pair but in the end Kristo Kollo and Rivo Vesik had to accept a 17-21, 19-21 loss to Michal Kadziola and partner Jakub Szalankiewicz. This way Poland secured a spot in the final stage of the CEV Continental Cup that will be taking place next year.
Estonia’s Beach Volleyball star Rivo Vesik said: “The game with the Polish guys was good for us, better than yesterday definitely, but it showed that we have been practicing together for a week only and Kristo has been playing Beach Volleyball for a few days only. The quality of the Polish guys’ game was better but this tournament is very good for us as in two weeks we will play an FIVB event in Lucerne so now we need to play all the games we can get.”
Poland’s Michal Kadziola commented: “This is the first tournament of the season and it is important for us as it is the Olympic qualification. As our coach says – the most important is to win the first match and we did it so we are happy now.”
Estonia vs. Lithuania 2:1
After suffering a setback earlier in the day in the ‘big final’ with Poland, Estonia’s Kristo Kollo and Rivo Vesik got back on track as they easily beat Lithuania’s second best pair, Andrius Gaidys and Paulius Matulis, by 21-11, 21-13 in just 30 minutes of play. Still, home heroes Arnas Rumsevicius and Lukas Kazdailis – bronze medallists from last year’s U20 European Championships in Cesenatico – restored the hopes of more glory for the local team as they pocketed a 21-18, 21-16 win over Karl Jaani and Rain Raud. The ‘golden match’ that followed as a dramatic one with Rivo Vesik and Kristo Kollo comfortably cashing the first set (21-14) for Estonia but Rumsevicius and Kazdailis fought bravely winning the second game by 22-20 to the delight of the local crowd. Still, the much more experienced Estonian duo had the upper hand in the end (15-7) to secure second place in Pool F and a better seeding for the next round of the competition.
Rivo Vesik commented: “We had seen these young Lithuanian guys already last year and they have definitely improved since then. Arnas is already a very good player, Lukas still needs to work a lot, but everything comes with the time. We enjoyed our game today and I think the match was very interesting for the spectators as well.”
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