Latvian beach volleyball has conquered another summit. After winning their first Olympic medal, World Tour event gold, World Tour title (twice, for that matter), and the inaugural European Games, the Baltic country wrote another glorious page this past weekend in Klagenfurt at the European Championship.
With two defeats in the previous two finals, Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins made it to a third gold medal game in a row. The reigning back-to-back World Tour winners appeared in the final in Klagenfurt two years ago as well, when they lost to Spain’s Herrera-Gavira, and lost to the home representatives Nicolai-Lupo in Cagliari last summer. As a matter of fact, Janis Smedins has appeared in all podium placements for Latvia as he and Martins Plavins won the historic first bronze medal for their motherland at European Championships in Berlin in 2010. Having climbed a long way up the international trophy ladder and with two consecutive failed finals behind their backs already, Samoilovs-Smedins were the favourites on Sunday against the Italian surprise package Ranghieri-Carambula.
In a repetition of the 2014 gold medal match, Latvia faced Italy. This time, however, Samoilovs-Smedins took advantage of their rich experience and prevailed in two sets (21-18, 21-18) to best Ranghieri-Carambula. The Latvians showed a great diversity in their game, which is also their trademark, combined with successful attacks and solid transition which turned out too good for the Italians.
“As we entered the match, we really said to ourselves that it was time to break the negative series and win a final here in Klagenfurt,” Samoilovs said. “This is a legendary place and everyone in the world talks about this centre court and all that happened here throughout the years. So now we have our small place in the history of this place. It has been a difficult season with Janis being injured but now we are definitely back on track and our focus is entirely on getting as many points as possible in order to secure our qualification for next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.”
Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula have gone a long path from anonymity at the beginning of the season till the silver medals they grabbed in Klagenfurt. The unconventional and crowd-pleasing defender Carambula, famous for his sky balls, and the former indoor player Ranghieri are by far the best Italian team in 2015, but they did not start the European Championship flawlessly. They lost in straight sets for the first time in Klagenfurt against the future champions Samoilovs-Smedins in the preliminary Pool B, but went on a great run in the elimination rounds before the second encounter with the Latvians. In the Round 2 they defeated fellow Italians Nicolai-Lupo 2-0 (21-19, 22-20) and then knocked out consecutively the crowd’s favourites Doppler-Horst (21-17, 23-21) and the world vice-champions Nummerdor-Varenhorst (21-17, 21-19) for a place in the final. Gold at the Lucerne Open for Ranghieri-Caminati, bronze at the Porec Major, fourth place at the Gstaad Major, and silver at the European Championship mark an astounding season for Ranghieri-Carambula. Even greater it is for Adrian Carambula who only entered international beach volleyball in 2015.
Meanwhile, Reinder Nummerdor, a triple European champion with Richard Schuil, and Christiaan Varenhorst are still in the pursuit of a title in 2015. The disappointment was unbearable for the two Dutchmen when they could not convert several match points in the final of the World Championship in The Hague and were left with silver. This summer the winners of last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Slam remained with silver at the St. Petersburg Grand Slam and with a fourth place at the Porec Major. Unfortunately, they could not win more than bronze on the centre court of the beach volleyball ‘Mecca’. In an all-Dutch affair, Nummerdor-Varenhorst prevailed over the 2013 world champions Brouwer-Meeuwsen in straight sets (21-18, 21-16).
“It has been a very good season for us with silver at the World Championship and now bronze here,” Nummerdor commented. “We know and this has been confirmed at many international competitions over the last few years that European teams are very strong and competitive, so it is difficult to make the podium at a European Championship. We are therefore very happy with winning bronze here,” he added after a match which moved the head-to-heads with Brouwer-Meeuwsen to two wins apiece.
The quarterfinal battles on Saturday evening also proved to be overly dramatic. Four very balanced matches determined the semifinalists. In a remake of the 2013 final, Samoilovs-Smedins cleared their way en route the dream trophy by avenging the Spaniards Herrera-Gavira (21-18, 24-22).
Two Netherlands vs. Poland clashes opened up the evening programme that day. Nummerdor-Varenhorst dropped their momentum from the first set by allowing Fijalek-Prudel to close the gap at the end of it and as a result the Poles dominated the second one. A higher level of concentration helped the future bronze medallists reach the semifinals (21-18, 14-21, 15-10). After that, Brouwer-Meeuwsen had a match just as difficult against Kantor-Losiak but managed to snatch the victory in straight sets despite the very close margins (21-19, 24-22).
In the most anticipated quarterfinal, home heroes Doppler-Horst’s perfect tournament run was ceased by the most improved team in 2015 Ranghieri-Carambula. Having emerged in international beach volleyball as though from nowhere, the Italians scored yet another impressive result. The block specialist Alex Ranghieri had a major role in the victory against the Austrians with his sensible presence at the net. Ranghieri-Carambula silenced the crowd after a 2-0 upset (21-17, 23-21).
Doppler-Horst, bronze medallists from last year’s European Championship in Cagliari, were, of course, disappointed with the outcome of the match. “I will come back again and again to Klagenfurt until I finally win a medal here,” Clemens Doppler said as he addressed the audience thanking them for their terrific support.
