Baden, Austria. As many as three Austrian teams qualified on Thursday for the Main Draw of the FIVB World 1-Star Baden Open, which starts on Friday at 9 am. The home teams were far less successful in the women’s competition – with none progressing to the next stage of the tournament.
Two lucky losers from yesterday’s country quota played against each other for a spot in the Main Draw. Maximilian Trummer and Felix Friedl eventually edged Florian Schnetzer and Lorenz Petutschnig 25-23, 27-25 to secure their spot in the Main Draw. The winners of Wednesday’s country quota matches, Moritz Kindl and Mathias Seiser, will continue their journey in Baden as well after celebrating a 2-1 (22-20, 15-21, 15-9) victory against Jakub Szalankiewicz and Mateusz Lesiecki of Poland. Tobias Winter and Julian Hörl (pictured above) have qualified for the Main Draw as well after a 2-1 victory over Patrik Manas and Jiri Sedlak of the Czech Republic. In a dramatic third set with alternating match balls, the two Austrians eventually sealed their spot in the next round (21-12, 17-21, 22-20).
“I was three times in Baden in the Country Quota, and three times I did not make it through that round. We failed this year as well but we got into the qualification as lucky losers and now it finally works. We have finally qualified for the Main Draw of the coolest tournament in Austria. The last match was super tight, but yesterday we just lost. In total, it is now 4-2 for Schnetzer but today we had luck on our side in the end,” Friedl said.
“We played a very good first set, in the second we were a bit unfocused. The third set was cool and we could turn the game around again. Now we are looking forward to the Main Draw,” Kindl commented.
“It was a great challenge. We had difficult teams in last year’s qualification and this year again we found a good team as opponents in the deciding match but we were able to prevail. The level is super high. It is great that we made it to the Main Draw,” Tobias Winter said.
Next to the three Austrian teams, Quentin Métral/Yves Haussener of Switzerland have qualified for the Main Draw as well.
In the women’s competition, Anja Dörfler/Julia Radl and Astrid Bauer/Sophie Haselsteiner, who played the local Baden Beach Volleyball Club (BBV), lost their respective matches to teams from Italy and Czech Republic. The eventual qualifiers are Esmée Böbner/Zoe Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland, Claudia Scampoli/Margherita Bianchin of Italy, Agata Ceynowa/Katarzyna Kociolek of Poland and Germany’s Anna-Lena Grüne/Lena Ottens.
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