Line-up for the men's quarterfinals in the Beach Nations Cup confirmed
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Friday's quarterfinals determine the four semifinalists of the women's Beach Volley Nations Cup Final in Jurmala, who stay in the race for the last ticket to Paris.
Nothing was confirmed in any of the four pools after the first day of the Beach Volley Nations Cup in Jurmala, therefore the last games in each respective pool were extremely intriguing. The four teams - Switzerland, Spain, Lithuania and Sweden have been eliminated. In the quarterfinals we will see Austria vs Poland, Norway vs Portugal, France vs Belgium and Latvia vs Germany.
In the Pool A, in the last game of this phase Austria upset Spain, who played to extend their chances for the Olympic qualification. However, Hammarberg/Pristauz swept 2-0 (21-10, 21-18) win over Saucedo/Viera and although the Huerta brothers fought hard to stay in the competition, Dressler/Waller proved better in a tie-break (21-17, 19-21, 15-11). Thus, Austria topped the pool standing and progressed to the quarterfinals along with Portugal.
The most challenging Pool C delivered another Golden Set, as actually all three matches in this pool were extended to the additional part. The fate of all teams depended on the game between Norway and Switzerland. Although Heidrich/Dillier beat Mol M./Sunder (21-19, 21-18), Hendrik Mol along with Mathias Berntsen prevailed in a thrilling three-setter (21-13, 19-21, 15-12) over Krattiger/Breer. The Norwegians proved better also in the Golden Set 15-8, which was Hendrik Mol's block show (4 block stuffs). Thus, Norway and Poland moved to the quarterfinals.
No less exciting was the last game of Pool D featuring home favourites Latvia and Sweden. First it was Bedritis/Rinkevics entertaining the home crowd in Jurmala with a victorious three-setter against Grahn/Isaksson (21-17, 19-21, 15-7). Sweden didn't make it easy also for Plavins/Fokerots who lost in tie-break to Holting Nilsson/Andersson (21-15, 19-21, 13-15), but won the Golden Set 15-13 to take Latvia straight to to the quarterfinals along with Belgium.
