Kholomina and Makroguzova continue Olympic dream start
Recap
Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina couldn’t have hoped for a better start to their first Olympics as the team from the Russian Olympic Committee won their first three matches in Tokyo to complete pool play undefeated and advance directly to the Round of 16.
The 24-year-old Makroguzova and the 23-year-old Kholomina dropped their first set in the tournament against Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, but still secured a 2-1 (21-8, 15-21, 15-12) win that placed them at the top of Pool E.
Targeted by most of the Australian serves, Makroguzova had a strong performance in the match, converting in point 19 of her 26 hitting attempts. She also registered three blocks and two aces against the Asians.
Nadezda Makroguzova“It was very important for us to be top of our pool. It gives us some time to rest, and of course the position for the next game. We’re happy. When we won the first set, we became a bit relaxed in the second set. That caused us to make many similar mistakes. In the third set, we put all our efforts together and tried to do our best. Now we need maximum rest and we can’t afford any mistakes for the next round.”
On the same pool, Italians Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth couldn’t deliver for a third-straight time in Tokyo and lost to Cubans Leila Martinez and Lidiannis ‘Lidy’ Echeverria in two sets (16-21, 16-21) to finish fourth in the pool and exit the Olympic tournament in 19th place.
European teams didn’t have a good day on Pool B, with both duos from the continent losing their final pool play matches. Spanish Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo fell to Chinese Chen Xue and Xinxin Wang in two sets (13-21, 10-21) but still made it out of their pool in third place. They will now have to play in the ‘lucky loser’ round.
Elsa Baquerizo“We are lucky that we are still in the Games and have more games to prepare for. We played well against the Dutch (Keizer/Meppelink). We won that game, which was hard. We knew today was going to be hard, the Chinese are also tough to face.”
Dutch veterans Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink put up a good fight but couldn’t avoid early elimination as they fell to Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman in three sets (22-20, 17-21, 5-15). With three losses, the team finished fourth in the group and 19th overall.
Six of the 11 European teams entered in the Olympics made it to the elimination round while the Italians and the Dutch join Czechs Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova, who couldn’t play due to a positive COVID-19 result, and Germans Karla Borger and Julia Sude among the ones that were eliminated on pool play.
Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka still need to complete pool play but a win over Kenyans Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Khadambi on Saturday will move them to the elimination round as well.
As many as five European teams competed at the Men's Beach Volleyball tournament on Friday, delivering three matches, all of them finished after tie breakers.
The Swiss Heidrich/Gerson claimed first victory, and thus will play a "lucky losers" match, aiming at continuing ahead in the competition. Nicolai/Lupo (ITA) remained perfect, finishing first in Pool F.
Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) suffered a loss from Evandro/Schmidt in the battle for the first position in Pool E.
Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson (SUI), who qualified for Tokyo 2020 by grabbing the last available European spot through the #CEVContinentalCup, recorded their first victory at the Olympics. In a hard-fought match, that lasted one hour and three minutes, they disappointed at 2-1 (21-14, 24-26, 15-13) the Adrian Carambula/Enrico Rossi (ITA). Thanks to this victory, Heidrich and Gerson still have their chances of proceeding to the Round of 16, while Carambula and Rossi leave the competition with no victories to their names.
The Swiss took an early lead in the first set, and opened in their favour. Carambula and Rossi responded immediately in the second one, putting up a real fight after a point-for-point race. In the decisive third set, Heidrich and Gerson were able to score the important points.
Heidrich aced three times in the match, but what made the difference for the Swiss, was the much better performance on attack (47 to 24). Gerson topped the charts, hammering as many as 25 points. Rossi and Heidrich recorded five successful blocks each.
Mirco Gerson (SUI)“Today, our strategy was to put a pressure with the serve and, of course, put some more balls in. This was our key to the success. We have improved in our last two games, and I am very happy about that.”
Adrian Carambula (ITA)“Of course, we fought, but when you don’t reach your quality game, the result doesn’t change. Qualifying for the Olympics, we had to overcome many obstacles on the way, so we were glad to be here. Now, we are looking forward to the EuroBeachVolley. I think it will be good if people go to Vienna for the European Champs in a couple of weeks. I think they'll get to experience this sport in full force."
To the delight of the Italian fans, Rio 2016 Silver medallists Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo keep on sizing win after win. On Friday, they outclassed the Polish Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak at 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-10). It was a close call in the first set, but the Italians emerged victorious. The Poles then came back, but Nicolai/Paolo were well in control of the tiebreak and, leading from the beginning, grabbed the victory. Overall, Losiak/Kantor were slightly better on attack (31 winning spikes to 29 by the Italians), but the seven blocks delivered by Paolo Nicolai were crucial for the final outcome of the match.
Paolo Nicolai (ITA)“Of course, we were a little bit worried when we lost the second set. When you play against such strong opponents, it is normal to feel this way. But we know that if we play well, we can win every match. We performed very well in the pool play, but now we have to stay focused - our tournament is starting now."
Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) lost the battle for the first place in Pool E, but it doesn’t reflect on them proceeding to the next round of the competition. Bryl and Fijalek were outperformed by the Brazilians Evandro/Schmidt at 1-2 (21-19, 14-21, 15-17. After taking the first set, the Poles lost their rhythm. The Brazilians, on the other hand, could enter better in the second one, and gradually building a point difference, brought the intrigue back in the match. In a hard fought third set, Evandro and Schmidt showed nerves of steel after a cat-and-mouse game, to eventually emerge victorious. Both teams performed equally on the block (Bryl and Evandro delivered seven blocks each), but with 31 attack points (to 23), the Brazilian players seized the victory.
One day before the end of the pool phase, the already qualified teams are: Leshukov/Semenov (ROC), Mol/Sorum (NOR), Plavins/Tocs (LAT), Brouwer/Meeuwsen (NED), Bryl/Fijalek (POL), Nicolai/Lupo (ITA).
Herrera/Gavira (ESP) and Heidrich/Gerson (SUI) will have to play in “lucky losers” matches.