09/08/2018 19:51
Ljubljana gold medallists Böbner/Vergé-Dépré vie for further success in Vaduz
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Vaduz
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 9, 2018. Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland travelled straight from Ljubljana to Vaduz shortly after securing their first gold medal from a World Tour event in the Slovenian capital on Sunday. They still do not set the bar too high for their participation in the Vaduz Satellite – where they started their Main Draw campaign on Thursday as the top seeds of the tournament.
“It is a very cool feeling to start the tournament as the no. 1 seed – something we never experienced before. We are obviously a bit proud too,” they say.
On Sunday night, they crowned with success their appearance at the 1-Star event in Ljubljana, where they emerged victorious from the gold medal match with the Ukrainian twin sisters Inna and Iryna Makhno. What was the key to that success? “We found our rhythm and stayed calm no matter what the score was. We were able to follow our game plan and remained focused,” the young Swiss acknowledge. “In addition to that, as a team, we worked very well from a tactical standpoint. It all turned out in the quarterfinal when we were 11-14 behind in the third set and still won. The success came thanks to all of these factors and our fighting spirit as well.”
Zoé Vergé-Dépré celebrates her gold medal winning performance in Ljubljana
The no. 1 seed in Vaduz does not seem to add any extra pressure. “No, we are taking it from match to match,” Böbner and Vergé-Dépré add. “We are trying to perform as well as we did the last few weeks. It is always best to play free anyway. The expectations for the tournament in Vaduz have not changed much following our success in Ljubljana. We want to get better as a team and achieve as good results as possible.”
The 2018 season has been quite successful for the young Swiss duo this far. “After the winter, it was a bit difficult to get back into competitive mode. However, it has been a good year so far, with the first Main Draw on the World Tour in Lucerne, third place at the U20 European Championship for Esmée and now our very good result in Ljubljana,” Vergé-Dépré commented. “We do not plan too many specific goals but want to progress as much as possible as a team.”
Esmée Böbner in action during the gold medal match of the 1-Star/Satellite event held in Ljubljana
On Thursday, the two Swiss players had ups and downs – as they opened their campaign with a comprehensive 21-6, 21-12 victory over Chiara Bigger/Nina Ludwig of Liechtenstein before losing in two close sets (19-21, 21-23) to Katja Stam and Julia Wouters of the Netherlands. They still made it to the elimination phase of the Vaduz tournament where they will be chasing their second straight World Tour medal.
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