24/03/2018 16:17
Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Turkey to fight for #EuroSnowVolley women’s gold
2018 CEV Snow Volleyball European Championship
Wagrain-Kleinarl, Austria, March 24, 2018. On Sunday morning, women’s teams from four countries will play for the medals at the first-ever CEV Snow Volleyball European Championship after players from Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Turkey made it through two elimination rounds on Saturday. After heavy snowfall and stormy conditions on Friday, the sun came out and the weather was just ideal for the second day of competition in Wagrain, the scenic ‘birthplace’ of Snow Volleyball. The 2017 ‘Queens of the Snow’ Anna Dostalova and Michaela Knoblochova lost in the quarterfinals after Dostalova suffered an injury during the warm-up, this effectively ending their dreams of glory in the Austrian Alps.
The quarterfinals featured two ‘derbies’ involving teams from Lithuania and Russia. Ieva Dumbauskaite and Monika Povilaityte progressed to the semis after a 2-0 victory (11-6, 11-6) in the matchup with their compatriots Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite. “We lost to this very same opponent in the pool phase and that was some kind of a shocking experience,” Dumbauskaite said after the victory. “We have known each other for years and I think we never lost a match to them before. I am happy that we could make amends for yesterday’s loss.”
Dumbauskaite and Povilaityte first took to a snowy court back in January at their national championship, but as far as Beach Volleyball is concerned, they have been a force to reckon with for many years. “I spoke to journalists from Lithuania before travelling to Austria about our expectations,” Dumbauskaite continued, “and I could not say much because we did not know much about some of the teams competing here. We obviously know some from Beach Volleyball, but for instance, we did not know anything about the Czech team. Our goal now is to play the ‘big final’. This championship has been drawing much attention from fans and media alike back home in Lithuania and live streaming of the matches is available as well. We have some kind of a large Lithuanian delegation here, with three women’s teams, my father, the men’s team and their respective families, so we do support each other a lot,” added the bronze medal winner from the Baku 2015 European Games and 2012 FIVB U19 World Championship gold medallist.
Their next opponents in the semis on Sunday morning will be their neighbours from Latvia, Alise Lece and Ilze Liepinlauska, who progressed to the next round after edging Anna Dostalova and Michaela Knoblochova. The Czechs seemed to be fully in contention for a medal, especially following their thunderous victory in the Round of 16 fixture with Ukraine’s Olga Dovgopol and Olena Borysenko, where they did not drop a single point in the second set. However, Dostalova’s injury meant an early end to their dreams of glory – with the Latvians qualifying for the semis making amends for yesterday’s loss in the pool phase (11-8, 11-9).
The 2018 ‘Queens of the Snow’ Bugra Eryildiz and Aleyna Vence of Turkey had to play three sets (11-6, 9-11, 11-2) to seal their ticket to the semis but they showed their class and experience in the all-deciding third set. They scored eight points in a row to break the resistance of Switzerland’s Claudia Schmid and Sarah Leemann before a sell-out crowd at Salzburg Snow Space Arena. Eryildiz and Vence claimed three gold and one silver medal from the 2018 European Tour and they had travelled to Austria as one of the ‘hottest’ medal contenders. They are living up to the expectations even though they had a rocky start to the second set of the match with Leemann/Schmid where the Swiss seemed to have found the right recipe to upset the reigning ‘Queens of the Snow’.
In the semis, Eryildiz and Vence will play Russia’s Liudmila Dayanova and Maria Ushkova, who needed only two sets (11-9, 11-7) to claim the derby with Ekaterina Syrtseva and Ksenia Khakimzanova.
Action resumes on Sunday morning at 9:30 CET with the semis, with live streaming available on the CEV’s YouTube channel as well as on the CEV’s official Snow Volleyball Facebook page. ORF Sport + will be broadcasting all semis and medal matches live and nationwide as well.
Click here for further information or visit www.snowvolleyball.com
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