20/06/2015 11:24
‘Alpine derby’ in final act of women’s Beach Volleyball tournament at first ever European Games, Lithuania and Italy go for bronze
2015 European Games
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20, 2015. Teams from two alpine, landlocked countries – Austria and Switzerland – will be vying for gold on Saturday night once the women’s Beach Volleyball tournament of the first ever European Games comes to a close with the medal matches. Switzerland’s Nicole Eiholzer and Nina Betschart stamped a 21-11, 22-20 win in their semi-final with Italy’s Laura Giombini and Giulia Toti after Austria’s Lena Plesiutschnig and Katharina Schützenhöfer had opened the programme of the semis with a straight-set win over Lithuania’s Monika Povilaityte and Ieva Dumbauskaite (21-18, 21-18).
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Eiholzer/Betschart – who have won a number of medals in age-group European and world championships – were off to a flying start in their semi-final with Giombini/Toti as the Italians did not seem to be able to display the same quality and consistency that had marked their journey in the tournament so far. The heat was undoubtedly difficult to stand for all players starring on the centre court of the Beach Arena but the Swiss played with courage and determination to quickly pocket the opening set (21-11). Everything went just easy for Eiholzer and Betschart also in the second set where they broke away to claim an 11:7 lead. However, Toti and Giombini finally fought their way back and after levelling the score, they went to the front for the very first time at 16:15. The Azzurre had two opportunities to stretch the match to a tie-break (20:18) but Toti’s lack of experience at this level and the Swiss girls’ resilience ultimately determined the outcome of this match (22-20).
“The matches in our sport are often decided by some tiny details and this time around we were not able to use our chance and to finish the second set off,” Giombini acknowledged. “The Swiss, on the other hand, started out playing very aggressive from the outset of the match whilst we weren’t able to do the same. We now just have to clean up our minds and regenerate because tonight there is another match to play and we definitely want to go home with a bronze medal around our neck.”
In the other semi-final, Plesiutschnig and Schützenhöfer claimed an early 10:7 lead in the first set and this way caught their opponents by surprise. This match was the remake of a previous one from pool play where the Austrians had failed to capitalise on three match balls and eventually ended up losing at the tie-break. Though Lithuania’s Povilaityte and Dumbauskaite stormed back to level the score at 17 all, the Austrians did not tremble and some solid blocks by Plesiutschnig ended the set at 21-18 in their favour. The second set turned into a dramatic one as Ieva Dumbauskaite asked for a medical time-out by the score of 12:15 following a heavy fall which resulted in her feeling pain in her diaphragm. After the game resumed, the Austrians continued to set the tempo and eventually brought the match to an end with another 21-18.
“That was nothing that had a huge impact on the match, I had some pain but it’s nothing serious,” Ieva Dumbauskaite said. “The medical time-out made us rest a little. I’m blaming myself today because my performance at blocking was really bad. With this kind of performance you can’t expect to make it to the final stage of such competition like the European Games.”
Katharina Schützenhöfer was visibly happy after the game: “We are extremely glad that we could win this game. Our team work was really good today and that paid off. The Lithuanians started with a lots of shots at the side lines, but we discovered their tactics very quickly and could prevent them from exploiting such winning situations.”
“It was extremely difficult to play under these circumstances and with this heat here on the centre court. We knew it was going to be a hard game. Now we are going to take an ice cold shower and discuss the tactics with our trainer to prepare the final in the best way,” concluded Lena Plesiutschnig.
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