Austrian warriors make it to #BeachNationsCup semifinals
News
A pool play setback against the Netherlands didn’t reduce the enthusiasm of Austrian fans and players and, together, they pushed the home team to the men’s semifinals of the inaugural A1 CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup in Vienna on Friday.
Playing in front of a sold-out and absolutely electric Red Bull Beach Arena, Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz and Robin Seidl/Philipp Waller overcame Poland in Friday’s quarterfinals and are set to face Pool A winners Italy in the semifinals on Saturday.
Ermacora and Pristauz gave the first step in the Austrian victory as they dominated Piotr Kantor to a comfortable two-set victory that gave the host country the lead in the series and lit the Red Bull Beach Arena for the second duel, between Seidl/Waller and Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl.
The Austrians won a dramatic first set with Seidl coming up big at the net, but the Poles came back to win the second and force a tie-breaker. With the fans on their side, the home team made big plays at the end to triumph and secure a spot among the top four nations in the event.
Philipp Waller"We're so happy now. It feels amazing to play at home and in front of such a crowd and now we're guaranteed to do it again tomorrow and Sunday. Nothing better could have happened for us. Robin was blocking so well today and we played together the entire time."
Austrian Beach Volleyball Player
Saturday’s semifinal series between Austrians and Italians will start with a duel between Ermacora/Pristauz and Adrian Carambula/Enrico Rossi. Seidl and Waller will again play the second match, this time against Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava.
In the other quarterfinal, Norway also recovered from a pool play upset against Italy and knocked Estonia out to make it to the semifinals. The Beach Volley Vikings had an uneventful day at the Red Bull Beach Arena with Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen beating Kaur Kais and Rasmus Meis in two sets and reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum doing the same against Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar.
Christian Sørum“We were happy that Mathias and Hendrik had won the first match and also that we managed to win ours. It was fun to play with Estonia at the Red Bull Beach Arena. It was the first time we played them and that makes things a little bit more difficult. But it was a good match for the audience to watch. The Netherlands has a very strong team and it will be very fun to play them in the semifinals.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
In the semifinal series, Mol and Sørum will play fellow world champions and Olympic medalists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen while Hendrik and Berntsen will meet Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde.
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