Teams from Poland and Latvia secure top honours at EEVZA #EuroBeachVolleyU20 zonal qualifier

As many as five tiebreaks were required on the final day of the EEVZA qualifier for this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU20 held in Cesis, Latvia, to determine the final standings. Poland’s Witold Witkowski and Maksymilian Dymczyk triumphed in the men’s tournament, while home favourites Paula Krieva and Alise Aleksāne remained undefeated in the women’s competition to provide the Latvian audience with something to cheer about.

Witkowski and Dymczyk were seeded only ninth but delivered a series of compelling performances, not conceding more than 17 points in a single set until the semi-finals. The matches became much tighter in the decisive stages, as they needed a tiebreak in their semi-final against Lithuania’s Lukas Gumbelevicius and Danielius Sumeika (21-17, 19-21, 15-9), and a third set was also required in the final, where Witkowski and Dymczyk defeated another Lithuanian team, Raigardas Macionis and Dovydas Sinkevicius, 2-1 (24-22, 20-22, 15-8) in a match lasting an hour. In the match for third place, Estonia’s Armin Kender and Artur Tšuhnenkov secured the win, prevailing 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 15-12) over Gumbelevicius and Sumeika in another thriller. As a result, both Poland and Lithuania have secured a spot in the Main Draw of this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU20 scheduled for this coming September 3-6 in Battipaglia, southern Italy. 

In the final of the women’s competition, top-seeded Latvians Paula Krieva and Alise Aleksāne defeated the fifth-seeded Estonians Hannemai Hanimägi and Marta-Mia Ploomipuu 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) in two closely contested sets. These two teams have also secured their participation in the Main Draw of this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU20. 
Earlier in the day, the semi-final proved to be a difficult challenge for the eventual winners, but Krieva and Aleksāne managed to defeat Kateryna Nitsenko and Viktoriia Kochyoni from Ukraine 2-1 (23-21, 15-21, 15-13). The Ukrainian pair suffered two three-set losses on the final day of the tournament, as the match for third place also went beyond two sets; the Polish team consisting of Zuzanna Kudlik and Zuzanna Przybyszewska defeated them 2-1 (21-19, 14-21, 15-10) to claim third place.

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