28/08/2015 22:47
Teams from Poland, Germany and Switzerland rock at Macedo de Cavaleiros
2015 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Macedo de Cavaleiros, Portugal, August 28, 2015. As slowly but surely the competition is about to enter its most exciting stages, the women’s top teams continue to shine at the 2015 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship at Praia de Albufeira in Macedo de Cavaleiros. Germany, Poland and Switzerland have each qualified two teams for the quarterfinals with the top eight being completed by Lithuania’s Monika Povilaityte/Ieva Dumbauskaite and Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha/Nadezhda Makroguzova.
Quite surprisingly Finland’s Ida Sinisalo/Niina Ahtiainen opened the programme edging Austria’s Julia Radl/Nadine Strauss 21-15, 21-18 and this way the bronze medallists from last year’s U18 European Championship got the right to challenge reigning U22 European champions Jagoda Gruszczynska and Karolina Baran of Poland in Round 2. The winners of last year’s competition in Fethiye, Turkey, confirmed their status as ‘hottest’ contenders for the crown also in Portugal as they claimed an easy 21-17, 21-14 victory in their matchup with the young Finns. Poland’s second duo and last year’s silver medallists, Dorota Strag and Katarzyna Kociolek, also progressed to the quarterfinals following their 21-19, 21-19 win over Marketa Bendikova and Magdalena Dostalova of the Czech Republic.
Poland’s feat was emulated by Switzerland as both of their teams also moved on to the quarterfinals. 2014 U20 European champions Nina Betschart/Nicole Eiholzer booked their spot among the top eight of the tournament following a hard-fought 21-16, 19-21, 15-10 win over Katerina Valkova and Nicole Dostalova of the Czech Republic. Switzerland’s second duo, Dunja Gerson and Laura Caluori (pictured), had finished ‘only’ third in their pool but on Friday recorded two straight wins, first over Turkey’s Merve Nezir/Esra Betül Cetin (21-14, 21-13) and after that they edged also Latvia’s Alise Lece/Marta Ozolina (21-18, 14-21, 15-12) to remain in contention for a medal.
On Saturday Gerson/Caluori will be playing Lithuania’s golden girls Monika Povilaityte and Ieva Dumbauskaite for a spot in the semis after the bronze medal winners from the Baku 2015 European Games stamped a 21-14, 21-18 in their Round 2 match with Julia Wouters and Lauri Luijken of The Netherlands. Povilaityte and Dumbauskaite haven’t dropped a set yet in the tournament and will be a hard nut to crack for Gerson and Caluori.
“We thought that we would have a chance in the first round, but we are surprised with having reached the quarterfinals as Latvia played very well in the previous stages of the tournament. We have secured a fifth place and that is very good, but we will make an extra effort to reach the semis,” Dunja Gerson says. “This is the first tournament that we are playing together so this is already more than we had hoped for. I think the main challenge is within our team because we still don’t know each other very well. We’re having fun and we’ll see tomorrow how far we can go.”
Germany also has two teams in the quarterfinals. Sandra Ittlinger/Lena Ottens and Lisa Arnholdt/Nadja Glenzke progressed to the round of the best eight with Ittlinger/Ottens having to work hard in their match with Belarus’s Viktoryia Shalayeuskaya/Viktoryia Siakretava (21-17, 18-21, 15-10) whilst everything went just easy for Arnholdt/Glenzke who stamped a 21-16, 21-14 win in their match with Spain’s Aida Etxebarria/Nerea Izagirre. Similarly to Povilaityte/Dumbauskaite, Arnholdt and Glenzke also haven’t conceded a set to their opponents since the start of the competition.
Portugal’s last team in the competition, Vanessa Paquete and Margarida Vasques, lost in the first elimination round to their neighbours from Spain, Etxebarria/Izagirre 19-21, 12-21.
“We started a bit too slow in the second set, because we felt that we deserved more in the first as we had set the pace almost all the time. Unfortunately, we failed in the decisive moments, so we were very upset about it and when we tried to get back into the game it was already too late,” explains Vanessa Paquete.
“It was a good experience to play alongside Vanessa,” adds the only 16-year old Margarida Vasques. “We have to be proud of what we accomplished, although I think we can do better than this but the level of this tournament is very high and anything can happen.”
All matches of the 2015 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship are streamed live and for free at LAOLA1.tv
You can follow the competition also on social media with the official hashtag #EuroBeachVolleyU22
Click here for more info including entry lists, results, pictures and much more
|