Roccaraso, Italy, February 18, 2018. With both genders in action on Sunday, the stage was set for a great day on the mountain at Roccaraso in Italy. While the worst of the weather held off until after play had finished, there was not the sunshine that had been present previously. That did not dampen the spirits of the organiser, the players or the passers by though, with the Italian supporters thrilled to witness their side of Parenzan/Ferrazzo put together a string of excellent performances, resulting in them taking the gold medals against the winners of the previous Tour Stop in Erciyes. The men's tournament, on the other hand, concluded with an all Russian final showing the very highest level of Snow Volleyball. After losing to Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov in Round 4, the second seeds of Ruslan Daianov/Taras Myskiv put together a strong performance in the final to win in four sets.
Daianov/Myskiv RUS [2] vs. Bykanov/Hudyakov RUS [22] 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10)
Daianov/Myskiv may have started the higher seed, but after their performances in the open tournament on Friday many people were expecting Bykanov/Hudyakov to claim gold again in the Tour Stop, but it was not to be.
Dominating most of the sets they played on Saturday, Ruslan Daianov (1) and Taras Myskiv (2) came into Sunday focused on trying to make it a second tour stop victory in a row – after winning in Erciyes in mid-January.
Sunday did not start well for them as they lost to their eventual final opponents, but they bounced back to beat another Russian team in Vsevolod Bobrikov/Vladislav Mikhalev.
In the Semi-Final they went on to beat the 2017 King of the Snow and his partner, Michal Matyja/Piotr Janiak from Poland to set up a rematch against their native Russians in the Final. After the match they explained how they changed their approach trying to attack down the line as much as possible and credited this with their victory.
In the Bronze Medal Match, Matyja/Janiak of Poland won in straight sets (11-7, 14-12) against Ivan Golovin/Valeriy Durnin to avoid an all Russian podium.
Click here for more on the men’s tournament
Eryildiz/Vence TUR [1] vs. Parenzan/Ferrazzo ITA [5] 1-3 (11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-13)
Immediately after taking that last point and claiming the gold medals, both Cristiana Parenzan (1) and Tania Ferrazzo (2) spoke of their joy. For it was their first tour stop victory and they won each game that mattered in what was a great day for them and Italian Snow Volleyball in general.
After coming second in their pool (after losing 1-2 to their final opponents), they beat fellow Italians Mara Milardi/Alessia Faedi in the Quarter-Finals, before putting on a great performance to beat Greta Cicolari/Giulia Toti in the Semi-Final to reach the final.
The final itself was a close affair, filled with long and exciting rallies. However when it mattered, at the end of each set, Parenzan/Ferrazzo just had the edge. Cheered on by plenty of locals, some who came for the Snow Volleyball and others who were stopping by following their day on the mountain, the final was a great spectacle.
In the Bronze Medal match, 2012 Olympian and former European Beach Volleyball champion Greta Cicolari, together with Giulia Toti, (former ‘Queens of the Snow’ in 2016) won in three sets (11-6, 3-11, 11-9) against Silvia Poszmikova/Romana Jurenkova of Slovakia.
Click here for more on the women’s tournament
Away from the matches, the Turkish silver medallists tried out our new challenge which is seeing how many times that they can pass the ball between themselves without using their arms/hands...