The action at Scheveningen Beach in The Netherlands has been non-stop this week. After two days, there are only four men’s and four women’s teams remaining. The Dutch fans are thrilled with the results so far, as their hopes of sending another two teams to Tokyo remains alive. Latvia, Switzerland and Germany are still in the fight on the men’s side. For the women, Norway is the big story as they have pulled off two days of upsets. Greece pulled off a big win over a couple of favored Polish teams and Russia has been steady under pressure.
Aces, lefty bombs and ridiculous cut shots
That was the formula for Raïsa Schoon & Katja Stam as they dominated in two must win matches today against Spain. The two young Dutch women continue to impress and are playing at a completely different level so far. Their teammates Marleen Ramond-van Iersel & Pelp Ypma fell in the quarterfinal opener against Spain’s Paula Soria & María Belén, meaning the youngsters faced a do or die match against Amaranta Fernández Navarro & Angela Lobato Herrero. They made it look easy with a completely dominant 21-12, 21-13 win. A few hours later they were at it again. This time Spain decided to mix things up and sent out Paula with Amaranta, but the result was similar 21-17, 21-12. Check out some of the crazy sharp angles Raïsa hit against Spain today in the highlight package below.
I haven’t had a chance to see every team play, but I can’t imagine another team in this tournament keeping up with these two. I also expect van Iersel & Ypma to win their matches in the coming days. The Netherlands hasn’t won an Olympic spot yet, though, so I’m definitely getting ahead of myself.
Norway brings the joy
The Norwegian women are having all kinds of fun as they roll through the Continental Cup. They were the underdogs two days in a row, yet they are still standing with a perfect 4 – 0 match record. Ingrid Lunde & Emilie Olimstad have been in full control as Norway’s number one pair. They closed off the contests against France yesterday and Austria today with 2 sets to 0 wins both times. They were in that position because Sunniva Helland-Hansen & Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland are winning as well. Twice they beat the top team of their rivals, today it was the highest ranked team in this tournament, Austrians Katharina Schützenhöfer & Lena Plesiutschnig. Their 18-21, 21-16, 14-16 victory included four straight points to finish off the Austrians who had a 14-12 advantage but couldn’t shake Sunniva and Ane, who won in dramatic fashion.
Greece and Russia continue to roll
Russia and Greece both won their phase 2 Continental Cup tournaments last month and they have continued with that form in The Netherlands this week. They will meet tomorrow for a chance to play in the finals. Vasiliki Arvaniti & Panagiota Karagkouni are 3 – 0 in the Netherlands including a golden match win over Poland to keep them alive. Russia is lead by Ksenia Dabizha & Daria Rudykh, who won a golden match in the first round, but only had to win one today. Youngsters Mariia Bocharova & Maria Voronina took care of their Ukrainian opponents in the quarterfinals 17-21, 21-17, 15-11.
Samoilovs and Smedins get the support they need
I predicted that Aleksandrs Samoilovs & Janis Smedins would have the burden of winning two matches every round if they wanted to return to the Olympics. Today they only had to win one match against Turkey as their young teammates, Arturs Rinkevics & Ardis Bedritis, came up with a big win against Turkey. That win puts Latvia into the semifinals where they will battle against The Netherlands for a chance to play in the final match.
It would be a huge upset if Rinkevics and Bedritisde could take a match off of de Groot and Boermans who have been playing lights out this week. If that match goes as expected, Samoilovs and Smedins will be facing elimination against the also undefeated Christiaan Varenhorst & Ruben Penninga. The experienced Latvians will likely have to beat two powerful Dutch teams in front of their home fans tomorrow. The pressure continues to mount, but any help Arturs and Ardis can give them, even if it just pushing an opponents to a third set, could make all the difference.
The Dutch have been perfect in protecting their home sand so far against Estonia and neighboring Belgium. Their 8 – 1 set record has them flying high with two rounds to go.
The Swiss mix and match their way to the semifinals
Two federations that had legitimate claims to play in the Olympics matched up in the quarterfinals today. That was neighbors and beach volleyball rivals Austria and Switzerland. The contest lived up to its billing with four of the seven sets requiring extra points to determine a winner and the Golden Match going to a third set.
In the opener, Marco Krattiger & Florian Breer gave Switzerland the advantage with two razor thin victories 23-21, 23-21 over Robin Seidl & Philipp Waller. Austria bounced back with Martin Ermacora & Moritz Pristauz playing some thumping volleyball against Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson. 21-13, 27-25. That set up the golden match. One country would be out and the other could keep chasing Tokyo. Austria went with Ermacora and Pristauz again, but the Swiss decided to mix their squads. It was Mirco and Marco that partnered together. The combination came up huge with a 21-23, 21-16, 15-7 three-set thriller to keep Switzerland in the hunt.
Ehlers & Flüggen advance by the skin of their teeth
Nils Ehlers & Lars Flüggen got off to a terrible start in The Netherlands yesterday. In what was expected to be a straightforward romp over Lithuanians Audrius Knasas & Patrikas Stankevicius they were outplayed in a 21-13, 19-21, 10-15 defeat. That meant if Alexander Walkenhorst & Sven Winter couldn’t come to the rescue, Germany would be out. Walkenhorst and Winter got the job done and Ehlers & Flüggen were called into action for the golden match. They faced Knasas and Stankevicius again and narrowly reveresed the score line with a nail biter of a win, 21-16, 15-21, 17-15.
Today it was Spain that pushed them to a three-set golden match. Walkenhorst and Winter got pummeled by César Menéndez and Alejandro Huerta in the second match. Nils and Lars managed to win the golden match for a second day in a row. Tomorrow it will be their biggest challenge yet, the powerful two team combination of Switzerland.