01/06/2016 22:43
Swiss delight on opening night of #EuroBeachVolley
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Biel / Bienne, Switzerland, June 1, 2016. On a fairly chilly night, a large number of fans turned out to cheer the home teams on as the Swiss pairs contested their second pool play match at the 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel / Bienne. After completing a sensational comeback in the second set, Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart were close to upsetting Germany’s Karla Borger and Britta Büthe but ended up losing at the tie-break before home favourites Nadine Zumkehr and Joana Heidrich rallied to their second straight win in as many matches by edging Jolien Sinnema and Rimke Braakman of the Netherlands (21-17, 21-17). On Thursday Zumkehr/Heidrich will be chasing first place in their pool when playing Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler. In the last match played under floodlights, Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Vergé-Dépré provided the local audience with something more to cheer about following their second straight win in Pool E.
The 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final is being extensively covered on the CEV website (click here) as well as on all CEV social media pages; a comprehensive live gallery of the competition is available here while additional information can be found on the organisers’ website www.beacheuro2016.ch.
The most experienced player from the Swiss camp, Nadine Zumkehr (pictured) was evidently pleased with how things went on the opening day of EuroBeachVolley: “It is definitely an honour and a privilege to be playing a European Championship at home. This does not happen that often and we are grateful to the organisers for this opportunity. We have had a good season so far. Where do the god results come from? Well, I think we have been working hard and have done a good job,” she said.
“Actually, I think that the long-term vision and strategic plan prepared by our coaching staff and Swiss Volley is now paying dividends,” she added. “They have shown a lot of patience throughout the last four years as we sometimes went through ups and downs, but we all kept on working hard and did stick to our plan even though the results were not always those we hoped for. The atmosphere in our camp is very good; we have two equally competitive teams at the moment [the other being Forrer/Vergé-Dépré] and we enjoy each other’s success and motivate one another,” Zumkehr continued.
As for this home EuroBeachVolley, Zumkehr seems to be determined to enjoy the experience and savour every single moment: “Of course my dream is to win gold or at least a medal, but we just take it one match at a time and we see how far we can get in this tournament. We are not one of the hottest favourites of this competition, but still we are among those ten teams that can realistically have a shot at the medals. The competition is tough, but we do not feel any pressure. I am experienced enough and have played many times on home soil to know that sometimes you play good, and sometimes you play bad, no matter where you perform. Right now I just want to enjoy every moment to the fullest, but of course the dream of a medal is there and we are working hard so that it comes true. And by the way, did you ever see a Mexican wave right on the first night of a European Championship? Well, we kind of initiated it tonight and I think this is something we can be proud of.”
Pool leaders
Greece’s Vasiliki Arvaniti and Panagiota ‘Penny’ Karagkouni caused the real sensation of the late session when they edged 2015 European champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany 2-1 (12-21, 22-20, 15-10). Arvaniti and Karagkouni completed an amazing comeback after they were kind of ‘thrashed’ in the opening set and earlier in the day they had lost their first match to Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic.
Beside Zumkehr/Heidrich and Forrer/Vergé-Dépré, other teams with a perfect record of two wins in as many matches include Slukova/Hermannova (Pool A), 2014 European champions Madelein Meppelink/Marleen van Iersel of the Netherlands and Slovakia’s Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova (Pool B), Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Büthe (Pool C), Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany (Pool E), Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy and Sophie van Gestel/Jantine van der Vlist of the Netherlands (Pool F), and Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler (Pool G).
2015 European silver medallists Ekaterina Birlova/Evgenia Ukolova of Russia, France’s Laura Longuet/Alexandra Jupiter and Switzerland’s Dunja Gerson/Nicole Eiholzer will all make it through Pool D after 2015 bronze medal winners Kinga Kolosinska/Monika Brzostek of Poland pulled out of the tournament due to injury.
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