Agadir, Morocco, July 28, 2018 – Teams from the Czech Republic and Latvia will meet in one of the women’s semifinals on Sunday at the Agadir two-star event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. In the other, a clash between two Italian duos will determine the finalist.
Second-seeded Martina Bonnerova and Sarka Nakladalova jumped the first elimination round with a forfeit victory over Annemieke Driessen and Ilke Meertens of the Netherlands. In the quarterfinals, the Czech pair cruised to a 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) win over Austria’s Franziska Friedl and Nadine Strauss to make the last four.
Alise Lece and Ilze Liepinlauska also went through two straight-set victories on Saturday. The seventh-seeded Latvians managed a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) first-round win over Manolina Konstantinou and Mariota Angelopoulou of Cyprus and followed up with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) quarterfinal victory over third-seeded Lithuanians Ieva Dumbauskaite and Urte Andriukaityte.
Alice Gradini and Claudia Scampoli were the lowest seeded team to make the semifinals. The 20th-seeded Italians claimed a hard-fought 2-0 (21-17, 24-22) win over fourth-seeded Swedes Tadva Yoken and Sigrid Simonsson in the first elimination round. In their quarterfinal encounter with Latvia’s Marta Ozolina and Agnese Caica, the Italians came from behind to master a 2-1 (18-21, 21-15, 15-13) victory and stay in contention for the medals.
Another Italian pair, 13th-seeded Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth, also managed a comeback from a set down to deliver a 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-10) upset of top-seeded Russians Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova and book the last remaining spot in the semis. Before that, Menegatti and Orsi Toth claimed a speedy 2-0 (21-10, 21-7) win over Cyprus’s Daria Gusarova and Zoi Konstantopoulou.
The all-Italian semifinal is scheduled for 10:30 local time on Sunday morning to be followed by the encounter between the Czechs and the Latvians an hour later. The third place match and the final are at 15:30 and 16:30, respectively.