02/08/2015 12:22
Latvians make third straight European final, play Italian sensation for gold
2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Klagenfurt, Austria, August 2, 2015. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins will be vying on Sunday afternoon for their first European title after missing out on that accolade and having had to be content with silver in 2013 and 2014. The ‘Lion King’ and 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner Janis Smedins edged 2013 world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands in the semis (21-18, 21-19) to make the final act of the competition and go for a remake of their pool match with Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula. The Italians teamed up only last winter after Ranghieri parted ways with former partner Andrea Tomatis and Carambula, who was born in Uruguay and attended college in the US, had a trial with Italy’s mentor Paulao in the summer of 2014 in Long Beach. Their partnership seems to be a very successful one and after they medalled at their very first World Tour event together last June in Porec, Croatia, on Sunday they made the final of the 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Klagenfurt after edging 2015 world silver medallists Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands (21-17, 21-19).
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Though it rained cats and dogs right from the early hours on Sunday morning, the crowd in Klagenfurt did not seem to bother and once more the passion and enthusiasm they are known for flocking to the centre court and filling up the stands all dressed in their raincoats to witness one more day of Beach Volleyball at its finest. And even though on Saturday they had upset the Austrian fans edging home heroes Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst, Italy’s Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula were definitely the favourites of the audience in their semi-final with 2015 world silver medallists Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands. The ‘Azzurri’ did a very good job right from the start claiming a small edge (8:5, 12:8) before their opponents stormed back to restore the balance in the game at 12 all. After that, Italy’s ‘blocking machine’ Alex Ranghieri and his Uruguayan-born partner Adrian Carambula got back on track and played with resilience and determination to bring the opening set to a close at 21-17.
The second set followed a similar plot with Ranghieri/Carambula going up by as many as six points at 10:4 but Nummerdor/Varenhorst showed what they are capable of with a positive 11-5 run in their favour which resulted in the score being levelled at 15 all on a block by the 212cm tall Varenhorst. The cheering fans – including Ranghieri’s friends and relatives – started to tremble since it looked like the Italians had lost control over the game but the Italian tandem was up to the task and after failing to capitalise on three consecutive match balls, Carambula had the last word at 21-19.
Questioned about the secret of his success, Ranghieri joked with the audience: “I think it is love! I am just kidding, because right now I am single,” he said while addressing the many adoring fans in attendance.
It did not rain anymore as Samoilovs/Smedins and Brouwer/Meeuwsen started playing for a spot in the ‘grand finale’ of the tournament with Samoilovs turning once more into the real hero of the Austrian crowd, entering the court accompanied by ‘Hakuna matata’, a song taken from the soundtrack of Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ cartoon movie. The Latvians edged ahead shortly after the technical time-out and even though they stopped the game as they trailed 13:15, Brouwer and Meeuwsen could not close the gap and ended up losing the first set 18-21. Samoilovs and Smedins displayed their class also in the second set claiming an early 7:4 lead but Brouwer/Meeuwsen got back on track with three straight points. Though they delivered a strong performance, the ‘Oranjes’ made too many unforced mistakes and had highs and lows, something you just can’t afford when you play the winners of the 2013 and 2014 editions of the FIVB World Tour. Samoilovs and Smedins needed to ask for a time-out to prevent a comeback of their opponents as they missed out on their first match ball, and as the actions resumed the ‘Lion King’ finished it off at 21-19 to secure a spot in the Latvians’ third straight European final.
“It is always amazing to play here in Klagenfurt where you have the best fans in the world,” Samoilovs said. “We all know that every Beach Volleyball player’s dream is to perform and to play here. As for the final with the Italians, we know them very well and they have great skills and personal styles. We are close friends, we respect each other a lot and after the match in the pool which we won, Alex [Ranghieri] came to me saying we would meet again in the final and there we are now.”
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