Nanjing, China, July 11, 2017 – Romania’s Adriana-Maria Matei and Beata Vaida storm into the main draw posting two wins on the opening day of the 2017 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:Nanjing U21 - WebsiteNanjing U21 - Women's TeamsNanjing U21 - Men's TeamsFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 20172017 FIVB World Championships - Beach Volleyball2017 FIVB World Championships - Beach Volleyball qualificationRio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games - Beach VolleyballFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesMatei/Vaida entered Nanjing determined to go one step further than their 2016 Lucerne U21 World Championships result where they finished fifth. The Romanian pair started their day defeating Poland’s Marta Lodej and Magdalena Orlicka 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) under draining 34 degree heat, feeling like 41 degrees in the humid conditions.
Matei/Vaida then faced Natalie Honzovicova and Tereza Pluharova from Czech Republic in a battle to enter the main draw. With the help of Vaida’s strong arm and solid serving, the Romanian pair secured victory, 2-0 (21-7, 21-15).
Romania’s Adriana-Maria Matei (left) and Beata Vaida“It feels so good, we’re a little bit tired as the weather is so hot. We came a little early to get used to the weather but it’s still hard to play in this weather, but this is beach volleyball and we like it,” said Vaida.
“We’re very happy because we’re in main draw now. It was hard today and so we need to get some rest before tomorrow. I hope the weather will be better,” said Matei.
“We didn’t know this team before the match, but we watched them during the warm-up and then played our game,” said Matei.
“We want to get into the semifinals, that is the dream for us because last year we finished in fifth place and now we want to go better,” said Vaida.
Turkey's Aleyna VenceTurkey’s Merve Nezir and Aleyna Vence finally came out on top to earn their main draw position after a close fight against Austria’s Franziska Friedl and Dorina Klinger. As the match entered the tie-break, evidence of Austria’s 46 minute morning match started to show as fatigue set in under the hot conditions. Nezir/Vence closed out the tie-break, 2-1 (21-23, 23-21, 15-6) in the team’s first international tournament together.
“Today was really hot and the play was really hard, but we won and we’re really happy to get into the main draw. This is our first tournament together in the under 21, so it’s a good result for us,” said Nezir.
“In the match we didn’t play that well in the first set, but in the second and tie-break we were playing much better,” said Nezir.
Leonie Kortzinger (left) and Lena Ottens from GermanyLeonie Kortzinger and Lena Ottens from Germany were the next team into the main draw defeating Brazil’s Vitoria De Souza Rodrigues and Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta 2-0 (21-18, 23-21). Both Leonie Kortzinger and Lena Ottens have experience separately playing in Germany’s national tournaments and came third playing together at the beginning of July in preparation for Nanjing.
Spain’s Maria Belen Carro Marquez de Acuna (left) and Tania Moreno MatveevaThe final main draw spot was earned by Spain’s Maria Belen Carro Marquez de Acuna and Tania Moreno Matveeva who beat two Lithuanian teams, firstly Agnieska Paskevic and Jekaterina Kovalskaja under the heat of the day, 2-1 (18-21, 21-10, 15-10) and then earning a good result against Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Irina Zobnina 2-0 (21-14, 21-18).
The 2017 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships main draw gets underway on 12 July with each women’s team playing two pool matches.
