Corrientes WT/ Golden medal Meppelink/Van Gestel vs Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk, bronze Maria Claria & Carolina Salgado
“A far coppia con Greta Cicolari in questi tornei sarà l'azzurra Viktoria Orsi Toth”. E poi “A causa di un problema fisico Marta Menegatti non potrà prendere parte alla trasferta in Sudamerica che prevede il Grand Slam di Corrientes e la successiva World Cup di beach volley… Menegatti resterà in Italia per recuperare e preparare al meglio i più importanti appuntamenti della stagione, a iniziare dal Grand Slam di Roma” .
Questo scriveva venerdì 17 maggio 2013 il sito della Federvolley.
Che tra l’altro il giorno prima aveva sottolineato altresì quanto segue per quanto riguarda la coppia maschile Lupo-Nicolai ( per la cronaca poi “bronzo” a Corrientes) :<< Daniele Lupo e Paolo Nicolai entrano a far parte del gruppo sportivo dell'Aeronautica Militare. Così come accaduto per Greta Cicolari e Marta Menegatti che sono arruolate dal 2009, ora anche la nazionale maschile avrà due atleti nel corpo militare. I due ragazzi sono arruolati in ferma prefissata in qualità di avieri scelti.>>
E noi che abbiamo sempre raccontato tutte le tappe del Beach Volley World Tour seguendo Marta Menegatti la beacher Made in Polesine, abbiamo deciso di seguire comunque Greta Cicolari in coppia ‘temporanea’ con Victoria Orsi Toth anche perché la ricordiamo winner ‘a suo tempo’ in coppia proprio con la giovane Marta universitaria e già punto fermo della nazionale italiana nonché winner in coppia con Valeria Rosso.
Perciò ecco qui di seguito step by step tutto quanto è successo alla coppia Cicolari / Orsi Toth sulla sabbia di Corrientes raccontandovi altresì ( a questo punto in inglese by sito www.fivb.org) le performance delle qualificate e infine winners e delle coppie da podio citate nel titolo.
PRIMA NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it , 23-05-2013) / Grand Slam Corrientes: i risultati delle coppie italiane
In corso di svolgimento il Grand Slam di Corrientes, Argentina. Questi i risultati delle coppie italiane fino ad ora:
… Qualificazioni femminili:
Gioria-Giombini Orquidea-Mosquera 2-0 (21-14, 21-11)
Main Draw femminile:
Cicolari-Orsi Toth Dubovcova-Nestarcova 0-2 (15-21, 15-21)
SECONDA NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it , 24-05-2013 ) / Beach Grand Slam Corrientes: avanzano Gioria-Giombini
Nel tabellone femminile Daniela Gioria e Laura Giombini hanno perso all'esordio 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-9) contro le spagnole Liliana-Baquerizo e successivamente battuto 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) le padroni di casa Flaviani-Klug. Nell'ultima gara della pool hanno vinto 2-0 (22-20, 21-14) contro le tedesche Bieneck-Großner, ma hanno guadagnato l'accesso al primo turno ad eliminazione diretta.
L'altra coppia azzurra composta da Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth è stata invece eliminata chiudendo così al 25esimo posto dopo la terza sconfitta in altrettanti incontri: 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) con le slovacche Dubovcova-Nestarcova, 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) con le canadesi Pavan-Bansley e 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) contro le tedesche Holtwick-Semmler.
TERZA NEWS ( by www.fivb.org , may 24, 2013) / Women’s FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam finishes Pool Play
<< USA's April Ross extends across the Argentinean sand Friday morning as she and teammate Jennifer Kessy finished pool play undefeated to earn a bye into the second elimination round Friday evening at the FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam.
Corrientes, Argentina, May 24, 2013—With two rounds of single elimination phase still to be played today, things are heating up in Corrientes as the women have completed pool play at the $440,000 FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam double-gender tournament. Winning their respective pools to earn a first-round bye in the 24-team single elimination portion of the event were three teams each from Brazil and Germany along with one each from the Netherlands and the United States.
With the top three teams in each of eight pools advancing to the elimination rounds with the second and third-place teams competing in the first round early this afternoon.
With the winners of each pool meeting the winners of the first round matches this evening, the women’s portion of round 2 of the 10-event 2013 FIVB World Tour will conclude Saturday with the women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches.
With the event being held for the first time in Corrientes, the purpose-built site is located on the sands of Arazati Beach – Costanera Sur.
For the women, the six undefeated Pool winners with 3-0 marks were Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk, Brazil’s Taina Lima/Talita Antunes, Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany’s Julia Grossner/Victoria Bieneck, Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestal and USA’s Jennifer Kessy/April Ross.
Winning their pools with 2-1 records were Brazilian sisters Maria Clara Salgado/Carolina Salgado and Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe,
Argentina Olympians Ana Gallay/Maria Zonta were the only home-country team to advance, moving forward with a 1-2 pool record. Argentina’s Gallay/Zonta almost pulled off another upset this morning but fell in three sets to the Salgado sisters, 21-18, 13-21, 15-13 in 54 minutes.
The lighted stadium court has been built to seat 7,500 spectators. With competition in finish the evening, the women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches will be held on Saturday with the men’s semifinals and medal matches closing the tournament on Sunday. The men’s semifinals and medal matches will start at 2:30 p.m. local time on Sunday for the men’s final four matches.
USA’s Kessy/Ross, the 2012 Olympic silver medalists, continued their powerful tournament start in winning their pool with wins over teams from Argentina and Kazhkstan on Thursday and Canada this morning.
Pushed to three sets in their final pool play match Friday morning after winning their first two on Thursday 2-0, USA’s Kessy/Ross came back from losing the first set 18-21 to defeat Australia’s Taliqua Clancy/Louise Bawden, 18-21, 21-9, 15-8 in 45 minutes to earn their first round bye. The Australians finished 1-2 advancing to a first round match later today.
Both Kessy and Ross were pleased with their start in the tournament.
Kessy commented after her team’s win this morning, saying, “We are really happy to win our pool anytime, all the teams are here really tough so any time you can win your pool is a big deal and this tournament especially because if we would have lost, we would have played three matches today instead of two.”
Ross remarked afterwards, “Usually after the Olympics it feels like there are a lot of new teams and maybe they're not as good, but this time I feel like the competition level is still going up, everybody is still getting better so it's even harder this year than it was last year.”
QUARTA & LAST NEWS ( by www.fivb.org, May 25, 2013) / Netherlands’ Meppelink/van Gestel win women’s gold at FIVB Corrientes
( silver medal for Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk, bronze for Brazilian sisters Maria Claria Salgado/Carolina Salgado)
<< Netherland's Madelein Meppelink focuses on her Mikasa kill as teammate Sophie van Gestel smiles as she sees it fall in during their gold medal victory over Brazil's Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk at the FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam.
Corrientes, Argentina, May 25, 2013—After starting play Saturday in the sun-soaked sand and finishing in the evening under a pleasant Argentinean sky in the spotlight of a magical glowing moon, Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel defeated Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk to claim the women’s gold medal at the $440,000 FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam double-gender tournament. Men’s semifinals and medal matches will be conclude the tournament on Sunday starting at 2:30 p.m. With the event being held for the first time in Corrientes, the purpose-built site with a 7,500-seat temporary center court stadium was located on the sands of Arazati Beach – Costanera Sur on the banks of the massive Rio Panara.
With a standing room only crowd of nearly 7,500 fans cheering a sport they seldom see in person like it was one of their own favorite sports, Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel completed a clean sweep of their tournament, defeating Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Agatha Bednarczuk, 21-17, 21-19 in 39 minutes.
Capturing the bronze medal for the second straight FIVB World Tour Grand Slam was Brazilian sisters Maria Claria Salgado/Carolina Salgado who held off the comeback attempt by USA’s 2012 Olympic silver medalists Jennifer Kessy/April Ross in three sets, 21-16, 19-21, 15-13 in 56 minutes.
The gold medal team in the FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam will split $33,000, the silver $22,000, the bronze $16,500 and fourth place $12,900.
In the gold medal match, Netherlands’ Meppelink/van Gestel played as flawlessly as they did the entire tournament, earning their seventh straight victory in the event by keeping Brazil’s Antonelli/Bednarczuk off guard enough to pull at the first FIVB championship of their youthful careers. Playing near errorless beach volleyball against another one of the powerful Brazilian teams, Netherlands’ Meppelink/van Gestel held off a comeback bid by the Brazilians when the tied the second set and 18-18 and 19-19 before Meppelink ended the match and set with another picturesque block of a kill attempt by Bednarczuk.
In just their 16th FIVB World Tour event together, the talented young Dutch women earned their first FIVB gold medal and their fourth final four finish. Meppelink, 23, has played in 46 FIVB tournaments all together and van Gestel, 21, has played in 30 FIVB events in her young career.
Elated with their performance in the tournament, Meppelink said after the award’s ceremony, “We are so happy to win the gold, it is our first FIVB Grand Slam gold medal, we played really well. We had tough games during the competition but at the end we could win.”
In the bronze medal match, Brazil’s Salgado sisters jumped out early and often, keeping the pressure on for a fairly quick first set win. USA’s Kessy/Ross, fighters that they are, battled back in the second set and although Brazil’s Salgado’s kept it close, USA’s Kessy/Ross won 21-19. In the third and deciding set, the Salgados stayed in front, leading 9-6 but USA’s Kessy/Ross tied it at 9-9 and took the lead 10-9, before digs, kills and blocks finished the set and match, 15-13.
For Brazil’s Salgados, who have played in 105 FIVB World Tour events as a team, this was their 10th career bronze medal and 15th final four finish. USA’s Kessy/Ross, who have played in 74 FIVB tournaments together, this was their 34th final four finish and fourth fourth-place finish.
Five of the eight players in the final four were 2012 Olympians as USA’s Kessy/Ross won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympic games, Meppelink/van Gestel finished fifth in London and Antonelli, teamed with Talita Antunes, also finished fifth in London. For these final four teams, this was the 15th final four for the Salgado sisters, fourth for Netherlands’ Meppelink/van Gestel, first for Antonelli/Bednarczuk and 34th final four for USA’s Kessy/Ross, who won the 2009 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The first semifinal Saturday saw Netherlands’ Meppelink/van Gestel overcome Brazil’s Salgado sisters for a second-straight FIVB World Tour final four match. Taking three sets three weeks ago in the Shanghai bronze medal match, Meppelink/van Gestel won their second career meeting with Brazil’s Salgado sisters and again it was in three sets as the Dutch women finally prevailed, 26-24, 18-21, 15-10 in 60 minutes. In the second semifinal, Brazil’s Antonelli/Bednarczuk played strong from behind to defeat USA’s Kessy/Ross, 15-21, 21-14, 15-12 in 49 minutes. In the tiebreaker third set, the match was tied at 9-9 and 10-10, before Brazil finished off the victory.
To earn the place in the final four with three of the four quarterfinals lasting three sets Saturday morning, Netherland’s Meppelink/van Gestel defeated Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe in straight sets, 21-13, 21-19 in 34 minutes while their semifinal opponent Brazil’s Salgado sisters advanced by working three sets to defeat Germany’s surprising Julia Grossner/Victoria Bieneck, 19-21, 21-11, 15-4 in 47 minutes. To advance to their second semifinal matchup, Brazil’s Antonelli/Bednarczuk upset the Germany’s veteran duo Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, 22-24, 21-19, 16-14 in 55 minutes while their next opponent, USA’s Kessy/Ross had their hands full as well before pulling out another three-set victory, this one over Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo, 21-13, 11-21, 15-12 in 52 minutes.
The FIVB World Tour will be off next week as 10 regular FIVB men’s and women’s teams compete in the FIVB World Cup Final special event in Campinas, Brazil. The FIVB World Tour resumes June 11-16 with the $440,000 FIVB Hague Grand Slam.>>
EXTRATIME by SS/ La cover è per Victoria Orsi Toth che nel Grand Slam di Corrientes ha fatto coppia con Greta Cicolari , che poi, in apertura di fotogallery, proponiamo in flash ‘mani sulla palla’ in contemporanea con Marta Menegatti l’altra metà del cielo della coppia titolare.
Poi onoriamo eccezionalmente la coppia maschile Lupo – Nicolai perché è la new entry in casa Aeronautica Militare.
Con riferimento alle ragazze italiane in campo a Corrientes le onoriamo by mixaggio.
Quindi eccovi il tandem Gioria – Momoli, poi Laura Giombini con sullo sfondo il tabellone ‘Corrientes’.
In chiusura ecco le beachers che hanno conquistato il podio a Corrientes, nell’eloquente trittico by www.fivb.org che alla fine mostra una fase match tra le già citate winners olandesi e le silver medal brasiliane.
Sergio Sottovia
www.polesinesport.it
