Bettystown, Ireland, June 1, 2019. Phase 1 of the 2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup returns this weekend with a double gender event in Bettystown, Ireland - their first time ever hosting a major International Beach Volleyball event.
With interest stretching far and wide across the country, the attending crowds enjoyed a dramatic day of action in this global initiative offering an attractive alternative qualification pathway for athletes and National Federations to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Set in County Meath, on the East Coast of Ireland 40kms north of Dublin City Centre, Bettystown offers the perfect setting for a weekend of high-level Beach Volleyball.
Ireland’s Miriam Gormally / Marie-Claire Sabogal kicked off the women's competition programme but succumbed to a heavy defeat (21-5, 21-5) against Slovakia’s number 1 pairing of Andrea Strbova / Natalia Dubovcova. Ireland bounced back to level the match when Isabelle Carey / Alexandra Graves beat Slovakia's Lubica Siposova / Eva Elekova in 3 sets (19-21, 23-21, 15-8) in a thrilling, dramatic and historic victory. The Slovakian Number 1 pair of Strbova/Dubovcova then quashed Ireland’s dreams of home soil glory with a two sets win (21-14, 21-17) in the final encounter between the two nations.
Denmark's Cecilia Kollner Olsen/Sofia Norager Bisgaard and Line Trans Hansen/Maria Elisabeth Tyndeskov both then beat Estonia 2-1 in the other semifinal, setting up a final with Slovakia. Strbova/Dubovcova took the first match 17-15 in the third set, but the Danes hit back with Trans/Tyndeskov levelling things at 1-1. But with their fourth match win in four attempts, Strbova/Dubovcova claimed first place for Slovakia with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) victory over Olsen/Bisgaard - and with a spot in the second stage of the Continental Cup due to take place in 2020.
In the Men’s section Ukraine (Popov/Gordieiev and Denysenko/Iemelianchyk) beat the hosts teams of McArdle/Gibbons and O'Regan/Kaczmarek early on in two straight matches. While in the second semifinal Lithuania's Vasiljev/Juchnevic and Rumsevicius/Kazdailis proved too strong for Scotland (McKelvie/Stewart and Brown, M./Ritchie) – both match-ups over in a relatively quick time and ending 2-0 - without the losing sides claiming a single set.
Lithuania then took on Ukraine in the clash for first place. Popov/Gordieiev of Ukraine took the opening match in straight sets, before Vasiljev/Juchnevic, and then Rumsevicius/Kazdailis, fought through two three set matches to win, meaning that Lithuania emerged victorious and secured a spot in the next round of the competition.
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