Disentis, Switzerland, March 11, 2017. Snow Volleyball rookies Kim Huber/Karin Kurzbein from Switzerland will face top-seeded Czech duo Anna Dostalova/Michaela Knoblochova in the women’s gold medal match at the 2017 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour stop in Disentis.
The six matches played on the sunny slopes of the Swiss Alps on Saturday were sufficient to determine the two finalist teams with Dostalova/Knoblochova establishing complete domination on court 2.
The Czech girls won both of their best-of-three ties with two wins against none in each of them and without dropping a single set along the way. The most experienced Snow Volleyball pair in the women’s tournament defeated the third-seeded Huber/Kurzbein twice – 2-0 (11-8, 11-8) and 2-0 (11-3, 11-8), thus making a decisive third match between them on Sunday unnecessary. They ran over their other opponents, second-seeded Esther Luft/Sarah Bauer from Germany, in a similar fashion – 2-0 (11-5, 11-6) and 2-0 (11-8, 11-7) – to storm into the final leaving a perfect trail on the snow so far.
As a result, it was up to the clash between the Swiss and the German duos to determine the other gold medal contender. This match-up also needed only two games to find its winner, and it was the home crowd’s favourites Huber/Kurzbein, who secured at least a silver medal and stayed in contention for the gold after rallying to 2-0 (11-1, 11-6) and 2-0 (11-7, 11-7) wins, leaving Luft/Bauer with the bronze.
“Snow Volleyball is actually better than I expected,” commented Kim Huber. “It is not as slippery as I expected, so it feels nice. The organisation is also very good. We will see what the new day brings tomorrow.”
“With this ambiance around, you feel good,” Karin Kurzbein added. “The weather is perfect and it is nice to play here. In the final we will give our best to win.”
The gold medal match between Anna Dostalova/Michaela Knoblochova and Kim Huber/Karin Kurzbein on Sunday is set to start at 13:30 local time on centre court.
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