Moscow, Russia, August 7, 2019. Day 2 of the Men’s tournament of #EuroBeachVolley was highlighted by tied matches, nice rallies and athletes fighting for each point. To disappointment of the Latvian fans, the duo Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs lost their match to Alexander Huber/ Christoph Dressler (AUT), which makes their situation in Pool A quite difficult. In the other Pools no other unexpected results were delivered, as main teams continue their campaign by seizing victories.
The big surprise of the day came after the loss of the Latvian stars Martins Plavins, bronze medallist from London 2012, and Edgars Tocs to the Austrians Alexander Huber and Christoph Dressler at 0-2 (19-21, 18-21).
Plavins and Tocs had the opportunity to score a break point twice in the first set, but the Austrians maintained the control and kept their high level performance for opening the match in their favor. It was a close game in the second as well, as both sides followed each other in the score. Plavins/Tocs actually took the lead at 12-10, but then Huber/Dressler established control.
Alexander HuberI think that against the Latvian guys, against Plavins, it is always a fight, he is a warrior. They are good in block-defense, so we knew we had to stay focused until the very last point. This mentality helped us to win. The weather today is perfect – not so hot, not so cold, with a little wind – it is always nice to play Beach Volleyball this way”.
Player
The big battle in Pool F was between the teams of Adriano Carambula/Enrico Rossi (ITA) and Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger (SUI).
The match started very well for the Italians who took the leadership and showed nice play on defense. Carambula, Mr. Skyball, known for being serving the ball in a specific way, put the end of the discussion in the first set by closing it with an ace. Things changed dramatically in the next set as the Swiss entered the court being more concentrated and made it difficult for their opponent. In the decisive third set Krattiger and Beeler started better and despite the attempts of the Italian duo to change things, closed the match at 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-11).
Marco Krattiger“After having lost the first set, we told each other that we were doing a lot of things good, but I was not so smart in my attacking. We also had to improve our serving, and that’s what we did in the second and the third set. That’s how we came up winning in the end. Now we look forward to game after game. In our next match we will play against Maksim Hudyakov/Igor Velichko from Russia. We hope to win that one and to be the second in the pool for sure or maybe even first. We will see.”
Player
A real Beach Volleyball thriller that lasted 55 minutes turned out to be the matchup between Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl (POL) and Tiziano Andreatta/Andrea Abbati (ITA), with the Poles being the eventual winners at 2-1 (25-27, 21-18, 15-13).
The Polish players started well in the first set, but around the 14th point lost concentration and let the Italians took the initiative. However, they could equalise the score and then “the play of tension” began. Not giving up, both teams were fighting for each point, but eventually Andreatta and Abbati, to delight of their fans, opened the match at 27-25. Almost the same scenario was repeated in the next set, with Fijalek/Bryl leading and then losing their rhythm in the middle of the set. This time, however, they could close in their favor, inspiring each other to start for a quick 6-1 in the third set – a point advantage, that helped them to claim themselves winners from this matchup.
Grzegorz Fijalek“We always try to keep the focus on our side and fight. It was enough for today, but I hope that our play will get better and better. We must stay positive, you cannot fall down in every tough situation, we are fighters”.
Player
The Russian teams in Pool D and Pool B – Nikita Liamin/Taras Myskiv and Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy, also seized victories on Wednesday to Murat Giginoglu/Volkan Gögtepe (TUR) 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-12) and to ChristiaanVerenhorst/Steven van de Velde (NED) 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) respectively. During the match between Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy and Verenhorst/van de Velde the rain was pouring down, but this didn't stop the players to leave their souls on the court.
Myskiv after the match: " In the timeout, we discussed the opponent, and we were able to better understand their game. In the third set, we realized that our methods worked and simply enjoyed the game".
Stoyanovskiy too shared his thoughts on the Wednesday win: "Weather is not a problem for us. We are supposed to be playing in any conditions; after all - it is the same for all of us. We achieved the victory today because of our skills and also because of the support of our fans".
The streaming of the matches will start from the quarter-finals and will be available on EuroVolley.Tv.