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European teams on fire, proceed ahead to the quarterfinals

Recap

Article Mon, Aug 2 2021

The European teams competing at the Men's Beach Volleyball Tournament at the Olympics were on fire this Monday. Plavins/Tocs (LAT), Leshukov/Semenov (ROC), Nicolai/Lupo (ITA), Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy (ROC) and Thole/Wickler (GER) join the Top 8 family, where Mol/Sorum (NOR) are already waiting for the upcoming important matches.  

This means that at least two European teams will be in the semifinals, and the European Volleyball family has a medal guaranteed. 

Edgars Tocs and Martins Plavins team huddle

The Latvians Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs started the week on the right foot, claiming a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) win over the Brazilians Evandro/Schmidt, and booking their ticket to the quarterfinals. It was a close call in the first set, but some successful attacks delivered by Plavins helped the Latvians to open in their favour. In the second one, they maintained the level, and did not allow any surprises. Both teams delivered the same performance on the block (4) and on attack (28 successful winning spikes by Plavins/Tocs to 27 by Evandro/Schmidt) but the Brazilian team suffered on the serve (five errors) and let these errors affect the final outcome of the match.

“This victory is no surprise to us. Surprise is when you buy a lottery ticket, and you win. Here, we have worked hard, we have analysed the opponent.”

Edgars Tocs (LAT)

"We knew where we needed to serve. We did pretty well and when they got tired. We had our tactics, and we were good at applying them.”

Martins Plavins (LAT)

Iliya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov (ROC) continue on the winning path in Tokyo 2020 and will play at the quarterfinals of the Men’s Beach Volleyball tournament, as on Monday they outclassed at 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) the Chileans Marco and Esteban Grimalt. Both sets unfolded in the same scenario, with the Grimalt starting better, but then the ROC’s representatives taking control and emerging victorious. Statistically, Semenov aced three times, while Esteban Grimalt recorded one ace. Semenov also blocked six times. Marco Grimalt for the opponents side recorded two successful actions on this component. Iliya Leshukov topped the charts with 14 points to his name, becoming top scorer of the match.

“We didn’t know what was their tactic, maybe there was some logic. Maybe that had an impact on why they started playing really well in the beginning, but afterwards we adapted quickly.”

Konstantin Semenov (ROC)
Paolo Nicolai (ITA) after a successful action

The silver medallists from Rio 2016, Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo (ITA) did their job right on Monday, and outclassing Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) at 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) in one of the two all-European derbies of the day, secured their spot at Tokyo 2020 quarterfinals.
In a nail-biting first set, the Italians proved better in the last, decisive moments. Emergin victorious from it, Nicolai and Lupo entered even more concentrated in the second one, to eventually claim the victory. The Italian squad were slightly better on attack (26 to 24), but it was Fijalek who finished topping the charts as best scorer (19 pts). Nicolai/Lupo also dominated on the block (five blocks delivered by Nicolai to three by Bryl). The Italians were able to score more on their opponents’ errors (12 to nine).

“We were consistent in our game today. Winning this match was great, because it was a tough battle. Our opponents are an amazing team, they played very well.”

Paolo Nicolai (ITA)

“Of course, we are a bit disappointed, because it was a close game, and we put a lot of energy. We had many chances today, and we have to try something from this match.”

Grzegorz Fijalek (POL)
Oleg Stoyanovskiy (ROC) celebrating a point

Later on Monday, another two European sides locked horns. The reigning World champions from ROC - Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Styoanovskiy outperformed at 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) the Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira. Both teams put up a real fight in the first set, but the Spaniards let some errors affect the score.As in the first set, in the second one, the Spanish playeres would take the lead but then Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy could turn things around. Krasilnikov finished as top scorer with 17 points. Overall, Spain’s representatives were slightly better on attack (24 to 23), but what made the difference the four blocks delivered by Stoyanovskiy and the precision in the decisive balls.

"We delivered a great match! I risked a bit in the end of it, we had some luck. Our opponents served really well, really aggressive. They tried to switch up their serves, one was going for aggressive serves while the other was trying some other strategy. But we managed to control that."

Viacheslav Krasilnikov (ROC)
Clemens Wickler (GER) after the victory

The Men's European teams finished the day at Shiokaze Park in style, as the German side Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler grabbed the last available spot at the quarterfinals. They locked horns with U.S. Jacob Gibb and Tri Bourne. Despite having lost the first set, the vice world champions showed outstanding mental toughness and came back to eventually win at 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-11).
It was a close call in the first set, but Tri Bourne on the serve in the last moments made it difficult for the Germans’ reception. Thole/Wickler were well in control of the next set, and brought back the intrigue in the match. In the decisive, third set, Thole and Wickler were perfect, taking the lead from the beginning.
Both sides delivered rather equal performance on the different components (27 winning spikes by Thole/Wickler to 24 by Gibb/Bourne; four aces by the Germans to three by USA players. Both teams recorded two blocks each).

"It was a crazy match, a really tense one. In the first set, we didn't find ourselves, we had some problems in our side out, but then we found our path back.”

Julius Thole (GER)

"The Americans are real fighters, they never stop, like in the third set. I'm really proud to have played against Jacob Gibb. I hope that he will continue playing, but I'm not sure (Gibb announced his retirement from international competitions). He's a true legend of our sport, and I was very honoured to play against him tonight."

Clemens Wickler (GER)

The agenda for August 4 (all times are local):

09:00 Leshukov/Semenov (ROC) vs Mol/Sorum (NOR) 

10:00 Plavins/Tocs (LAT) vs Alison/Alvaro Filho (BRA)

21:00 Thole/Wickler vs Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy (ROC)

22:00 Chereif/Ahmed (QAT) vs Nicolai/Lupo (ITA)

On the women’s tournament, the only match involving a European team resulted in the elimination of Spanish Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo, who couldn’t handle reigning world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes and were downed by the Canadians in straight sets (13-21, 13-21).

The 34-year-old Liliana and Elsa finished ninth in Tokyo, repeating the results they had achieved in both of their previous Olympic appearances, in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Liliana tries to stop Humana-Paredes at the net (Photo: Volleyball World)

"The Canadians are one of the favorites to win the Olympics. We obviously would have loved to surprise them, but we knew it was a tough matchup. They have a fantastic block and are on course to win gold."

Liliana Fernandez

The quarterfinals of the women’s Olympic tournament will take place on Tuesday and will feature three European duos with Germans Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch facing Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman, Swiss Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre playing against Brazilians Rebecca Cavalcanti and Ana Patricia Ramos and Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka meeting Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson.

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