Antalya, Turkey, July 13, 2019. Sunday morning’s semifinals of the men’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship 2019 in Antalya will match France against Germany and Russia against Italy. The Germans are the lowest seeded team among the last four and the only one that had to go through all three knockout rounds on Saturday.
Lukas Pfretzschner and Robin Sowa took revenge for their loss to Laurenz Leitner and Moritz Fabian Kindl in the pool stage of the tournament and managed a 2-1 (21-12, 11-21, 15-13) victory over the fifth-seeded Austrians in the longest of Saturday’s quarterfinals. The 12th-seeded Germans went through a long day, which started with another three-set match in the first elimination round - 2-1 (17-21, 21-16, 15-8) against Denmark’s Jacob Stein Brinck and Mikkel Hoff. Pfretzschner and Sowa went on to master a speedy 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) win over Dutchmen Mees Blom and Yorick de Groot to set up another meeting with Austria.
“We are so happy to have won against a very good team. Those Austrians are really good – a very athletic blocker and a very smart and cheeky defender! It’s very tough to play against them and we are very happy,” 19-year-old Lukas Pfretzschner commented upon qualifying for the semis.
“I think we found our game today and we will continue trying to improve tomorrow. We want a medal!” 20-year-old Robin Sowa added.
France’s Timothée Platre, 20 years old, and Théo Faure, 19 years old, had a great day on the courts of Antalya. Once again inspired by the unceasing support of their fans on the stands, the ninth-seeded pair delivered two swift straight-set victories – 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) over Norway’s Karl Jørgen Mosvold and Eivind Brekke and 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) over Russia’s Sergey Gorbenko and Vasilii Ivanov – to advance to the semis.
The other Russian team, third-seeded Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov, both at the age of 18, also went through two express wins in the second and third elimination rounds. They mastered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-9) defeat of Greece’s Angelos Mandilaris and Stylianos Tzioumakas in 29 minutes of play, before hammering out a 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) shutout of Switzerland’s Florian Breer and Leo Dillier.
High-flying action in the Italy vs. Spain quarterfinal
For Samuele Cottafava and Jakob Windisch the day started with a tough three-set encounter with English twin brothers Javier Bello and Joaquin Bello, which the 20-year-old Italians managed to win 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-11). Their quarterfinal match was not any easier for 10th-seeded Cottafava and Windisch as they faced second-seeded Spaniards Alejandro Huerta Pastor and Óscar Jiménez Gutiérrez. This time, the Italians managed to emerge victorious in straight sets - 2-0 (21-18, 22-20).
All #EuroBeachVolleyU22 matches are streamed live on EuroVolleyTV. Sunday’s gold medal match at 18:00 local time will also be available on the CEV Beach Volleyball Facebook page.
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