20/04/2019 21:00
Dutch duos continue their winning streak in Göteborg
2019 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Göteborg
Göteborg, Sweden, April 20, 2019. As women faced elimination rounds on Saturday, teams from the Netherlands continued their winning streak at the World Tour 1-Star event in Göteborg, with two eventually making their way to the semi-finals. Teams from Ukraine and Norway, the latter who beat the two-time World Tour winners from USA, also left Saturday’s quarterfinals with a win under their belt.
On Friday, the Dutch wild card holders Emi van Driel and Raisa Schoon were the lowest ranked team to win their pool and make their way directly to the quarterfinals. On Saturday, the young duo continued to display impressive skills as they beat their compatriots Emma Piersma/Pleun Ypma 21-17, 21-13.
“We played our own game and Schoon made a lot of points. We just kept smiling and doing what we are good at, I think that is why we won,” said Emi van Driel after the quarterfinal win.
It is the furthest this duo has made it in a World Tour event. “Very exciting! We have not played a semi-final in a World Tour tournament before, this is one of our first such events and now we are playing the semi-final, so it is just awesome,” Van Driel added.
The Dutch duo will play Norwegian team Victoria Faye Kjølberg/Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland who defeated Lara Dykstra/Cassie House of USA and advanced to the semi-finals. Dykstra and House had travelled to Sweden after taking two gold medals from World Tour events held in Cambodia and Malaysia earlier this month.
The Norwegian duo, just like Van Driel/Schoon, will play in their first ever World Tour semi-final. “It feels very exciting. First World Tour semi for us, so it will be a lot of fun,” said Hjortland. The Scandinavians were happy about getting the win despite of dealing with their nerves. “It feels really good and I thought we had good control in the start but you are always nervous and I think we had some butterflies in our stomach so it got very nervous at the end,” said Kjølberg about the second set. This is where the Americans started to catch up before she and her partner sealed a 2-0 win (21-17, 23-21). A win they thanked their serving for: “We had a good push in the serve and stuck to our game plan,” said Kjølberg.
In the other semi-final, Inna and Iryna Makhno from Ukraine will play against another Dutch duo, Katja Stam/Julia Wouters in a game that will start at 10:00 local time. The Ukraine duo beat Swedish team Sofia Ögren/Camilla Nilsson in the quarterfinal. The home team, with heavy support from the stands, fell short in two straight sets as the Makhno twins won 21-15, 24-22. Stam/Wouters are also coming from a two set-win after defeating Polish duo Marta Duda/Marta Lodej.
The women’s semi-finals will kick off Sunday’s medal matches.
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