20/03/2016 17:32
German-and-Polish duo upset pre-favourites to earn crown in Wagrain-Kleinarl
2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Wagrain-Kleinarl, Austria, March 20, 2016. The German-and-Polish tandem of Michaela Bertalanitsch and Marta Swiechowska stirred the major sensation at the second stop of the 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour by claiming the crown of ‘Queens of the Snow’ of Wagrain-Kleinarl, where the exciting tournament took place in perfect conditions over the weekend.
The final day in the Austrian Alps started with the single round robin starring the four best women’s teams of the tournament. Bertalanitsch and Swiechowska, who had survived in three consecutive games in the losers’ bracket on Saturday, caused the first upset of the day by beating the second-seeded German-and-Italian pair Alice Concas/Dalila D'Orazio by 2-0 (11-9, 11-7), but then went on to lose to the #1-seeded competition pre-favourites Greta Cicolari/Giulia Toti from Italy by 0-2 (10-12, 5-11). Bertalanitsch and Swiechowska needed to win their last pool match in order to proceed to the final and they did so in a tough three-set encounter with Slovenia’s Tjaša Žagar/Klara Omovšek – 2-1 (9-11, 11-4, 11-6).
In the final battle for gold the German-and-Polish pair had to face Cicolari/Toti again, but this time they showed no mercy on the snow and, playing with calm and confidence, managed to steal a sensational 2-0 (12-10, 11-9) win to triumph with the crown and the gold medals.
“Oh my god, it is a great feeling! I did not expect it, because we are indoor Volleyball players,” Marta Swiechowska admitted. “I think what made the difference in the final is that we stopped calculating and just did our stuff. And with this amazing crowd here, you really want to show your best. With every game on the snow we gain more and more experience as a team and in this last game we just showed what we have learned together so far. We had not planned to be in Kronplatz for the next stop, but now that we have a crown to defend we have to think about it.”
“We had already played against the Italian team today and lost, so we wanted to take revenge and it is really cool now that we did it in the final,” Michaela Bertalanitsch added. “I think our game was really emotional, we celebrated every point and it helped us win.”
For the Italian super stars Cicolari and Toti, after Špindlerův Mlýn, this was the second time in a row on the Tour that they reached the final, but failed to convert on their status of favourites and had to be content with silver. “Giulia and I never played together and we have not trained together, because we live in different cities,” Greta explained the situation. “It is different to play on the snow and with sets to 11 points it is difficult to show our potential. In the final, our opponents did not make mistakes, while we did, and this made the small difference. We have two weeks to train hard before the next stop and to win the gold there in front of our home fans.”
The bronze medals went to Tjaša Žagar/Klara Omovšek, who managed to make a dramatic comeback after a catastrophic first set to defeat Alice Concas/Dalila D'Orazio by 2-1 (2-11, 11-6, 14-12) in the third place match.
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