Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 12, 2017. Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe of the Netherlands had moved straight to the semi-finals of the CEV Satellite in Vaduz with three straight victories but their winning streak ended there when playing Swiss qualifiers Nicole Eiholzer and Dunja Gerson. By displaying impressive fighting spirit, the Swiss team secured their place in the final and later in the evening, they celebrated with the gold medals – as they won a spectacular match against Martina Bonnerova/Sarka Nakladalova of the Czech Republic.
The Youth Continental Cup qualifier started on Saturday as well with two Liechtenstein teams competing on home sand and the event will continue on Sunday – alongside the final stages of the men’s Satellite. The weather conditions significantly improved compared to the previous days, and as a result, many people flocked to the stadium set up in Vaduz downtown. On Saturday, as many as 3,500 spectators enjoyed the sun and Beach Volleyball at its finest.
In the semis, Bonnerova/Nakladalova defeated Kim Behrens/Anni Schumacher from Germany, who on Friday had put an end to the winning streak of Romania’s Adriana-Maria Matei/Beata Vaida, as they comfortably pulled out a 2-0 victory (21-16, 21-18). However, the Germans regrouped to take the bronze medal match with Sinnema/Stubbe (2-0; 21-11, 21-19) as the Dutchwomen seemed to have ran out of fuel following their semi-final loss to Eiholzer/Gerson. Behrens/Schumacher were obviously happy after the game: “We played for the second time in this tournament against them, so we knew what was awaiting us. We tried to put a lot of pressure with our serve in order to bring them out of their comfort zone.” About the tournament in Vaduz: “Since we always come back, this shows how much we like this event.”
The mood in Vaduz, the bursting stadium and the very successful tournament they had started with the qualification on Wednesday – these were all factors helping Eiholzer/Gerson crown their campaign with gold. They started strongly in the first set and their game seemed just flawless. In the second set, the Swiss team, however, had problems in reception and attack. In the third one, they found back to their best performance with challenging serves and a good game in block and defence. They finished it all off with an ace (21-19, 16-21, 15-11), thus taking gold from a competition they had started on Wednesday when fighting for a spot in the Main Draw.
Their compatriots Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger followed a similar screenplay in their match with Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner from the Czech Republic to stay alive in the tournament. “After a difficult start, we just tried to get back our strength from the past few weeks - and we managed to do so.”
Chris Gregory/Jake Sheaf from England and Marco Caminati/Enrico Rossi from Italy won their respective games in Round 3 to make it straight to the men’s semis.
Spain and Sweden favourites in Youth Continental Cup qualifier
The 2017-2018 CEV Youth Continental Cup qualifier started in Vaduz with Belinda Jehle/Michelle Tijkorte and Severin Broder/Jannis Wymann representing Liechtenstein. The youth teams from the host country were close to winning at least one set. According to Petra Schifferle-Walser, the youth national team coach, the goal remains to “learn as much as possible while breathing the air of an international competition.” The top two teams from this qualifier will progress to next year’s Finals where five spots will be at stake to represent Europe at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. After completion of Day 1, Sweden and Spain seem to be the favourites to take top honours in the men’s and women’s competition, respectively.
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