Slovenia with three 5th places at the #EuroBeachVolleyU18

Bracko/Zajc (SLO) played probably the most thrilling quarterfinal match against Ukraine.

Izmir, Turkey. On Saturday, after completion of the third competition day at Pamucak Beach, the semi-finalists of this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU18 emerged – with two teams from Russia and one apiece from Latvia and Ukraine making it among the top four of the men’s tournament. Two teams from Ukraine, plus one from Switzerland and Italy will contest the women’s semis and medal matches on Sunday. 

Saturday coincided with the start of the knockout phase, and it was a windy day in Izmir with challenging conditions for the young players competing there. The programme started with the Round of 24 featuring the second and third-placed teams from the pool phase, producing some unexpected results. Quite surprisingly, especially since they have dominated this age group for many years, no Russian teams made it to the women’s semis. The most anticipated duel of the day featured Italy’s Aurora Mattavelli/Margherita Tega and Russia’s Anna Riazhnova/Elizaveta Gubina in the Round of 16. The young Italians showed their physical and mental strength to celebrate a 2-1 (13-21, 21-17, 16-14) victory in 48 minutes. Gubina was a gold medallist last year in Baden, when she played alongside Mariia Bocharova. 

Slovenian girls Šen/Kadunc finished with a strong 5th, which was also the highest of all MEVZA teams.

In the men’s competition, the ‘match of the day’ featured Slovenia’s Žan Zajc/Rok Bracko (pictured above) and Yevhenii Boiko/Vladyslav Omelchuk of Ukraine. After a real fight that lasted for 46 minutes, the Ukrainians secured their spot in the semis with a 2-1 victory (21-18, 19-21, 15-8).

The 2020 edition of #EuroVolleyBeachU18 will be reaching its climax with the gold medal matches on Sunday, starting at 4 pm and 5 pm local time for women and men, respectively. You can follow live streaming of these matches on EuroVolleyTV.

Click here for further information.

MEVZA TEAMS
Women:
5th place – Šen/Kadunc SLO
9th place – Mrkic/Sverko CRO
9th place – Selicharova/Fixova CZE
9th place – Gubik/Vecsey HUN
17th place – Tomasova/Koblizkova CZE
17th place – Alrod Ben Naim/Havia ISR

Men:
5th place – Okorn/Marovt SLO
5th place – Zajc/Bracko SLO
9th place – Nemec/Malik CZE
9th place – Cuzmiciov/Yellin ISR
17th place – Udvarhelyi/Dóczi HUN
25th place – Jurkovi?/Repek CRO
25th place – Polednik/Pohl CZE

Source:
CEV – European Volleyball
OZS – Volleyball Federation of Slovenia