12/01/2019 22:15
Reigning European champions Daianov and Myskiv lose Russian derby in Erciyes
CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour 2019 - Erciyes
Erciyes/Kayseri, Turkey, January 12, 2019. The second stop of the 2019 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour started with the qualification rounds on Friday as Mount Erciyes hosts such a tournament for the third straight year. Thrilling Main Draw matches took place on Saturday at the state-of-the-art Snow Volleyball venue set up at Mount Erciyes, with the courts moved down to the most crowded area of the Erciyes Ski Centre after last year’s tournament. Along with the participants and staff, many lovers of winter sports visiting Mount Erciyes enjoyed the second day of the tournament, thus accounting for a huge crowd of 2,000-2,500 people throughout the day.
Teams will be fighting for the medals on Sunday with the schedule including quarterfinals, semi-finals and medal matches. Live streaming of the two gold medal matches starting at 13 local time (11 am CET) will be available on EuroVolleyTV.
Early in the morning, two Turkish teams faced off in the women’s competition and Dogruer/Ozkan/Ceylan won the game 2-0 after a closely fought second set. This match was not the only derby of the day. Two Italian teams, Lupatelli/Maines/Galli/Zauli and Di Risio/Amorosi/Marinucci/Sasso locked horns as well. Team Italy 1 beat their opponents 15-13, 15-10 as the match-up offered long rallies to the spectators. “Snow Volleyball is a young sport and the new rule is an important move to improve the game. It has increased the pleasure for both the fans and players,” said Lupatelli after the game. “The scenery and the view here are very nice and the same applies to the facility.” The Italians had a difficult journey to Turkey. They missed three flights coming to Erciyes and arrived at the venue just 10 minutes before the start of their match!
Thousands of people have found out more about Snow Volleyball on Saturday at Mount Erciyes.
As the reigning Snow Volleyball European champions Ruslan Daianov/Taras Myskiv return to Erciyes where they won their first tournament together last year, Kayseri is an important stop in the sense that they are playing together for the first time after claiming the gold medal from the European Championship held in Austria. “With the new 3 vs. 3 rule the game has evolved in a powerful way. There are no breaks and fast rallies anymore,” Daianov said. He pointed out that after missing the summer season, they came up with a new strategy and Kayseri is a crucial stop to try this out for the first time. However, later in the day Russia’s Bobrikov, Mikhalev and Smorchkov beat the gold medallists from last year and their partner Aleksandr Kramarenko in their second match of the day 2-1 (11-15, 15-11, 15-11).
“It is a super place to play this sport along with the nice weather. Snow Volleyball is a much harder sport compared to Beach and indoor Volleyball, so the new rule is very good,” said Bobrikov.
Next to the Yurtsever/Gokalp/Celebi/Keskin competing in the women’s tournament, Turkey had Yıldırım/Durgut/Cebeci/Uludar in the men’s quarterfinals as well. Two teams from Russia have already achieved the men’s semis; one team from Russia and Czech Republic have claimed a spot in the women’s semis.
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