Sochi, Russia, May 5, 2014 - Vasiliki Arvaniti and Penny Karagkouni of Greece are in a good place after unexpectedly winning their pool here Thursday to net one of the eight elimination bracket “byes” in the women’s competition at the US$150,000 Sochi Open on the four Beach Volleyball courts at Sport Inn next to the Black Sea.
Seeded 24th in the 32-team Sochi Open Main Draw, Arvaniti and Karagkouni posted their third Pool H win Thursday mid-day with a 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-12) win in 47 minutes over 25th-seeded Rimke Braakman and Jolien Sinnema of The Netherlands. The win was only the second pool title in 15 FIVB World Tour events for the Greeks, who had to qualify Tuesday for the “money rounds” with a win over a Swedish pair.
TWO WINS WEDNESDAY
But it was the Greek’s effort Wednesday that laid the foundation for the pool title as Arvaniti and Karagkouni scored upset wins over ninth-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany 2-1 (21-19, 27-29, 15-13) and eighth-seeded Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia 2-1 (17-21, 22-20, 15-13) in a pair of 51-minute matches. The Dutch, German and Russian matches were the first meeting for Arvaniti and Karagkouni against their Sochi pool foes.
“When you are a new team, it is always tougher because you have to play in qualifiers to gain a spot in the Main Draw,” said the 31-year old Arvaniti, a three-time Greek Olympian who ranks only behind Australia’s Natalie Cook (164) in the women’s record for the number of FIVB World Tour starts with 156.
“We have played in five-straight qualifiers in Brazil (Maceio and Rio), China (Xiamen and Fuzhou) and now Russia” Arvaniti added. “It’s like playing in three tournaments at one stop as the qualifiers are single-elimination, so you better play well immediately. In pool play, you can advance most times with one win. Then it is back to elimination matches.”
MOST EXPERIENCED PLAYER
With Arvaniti being the most experienced player in the Sochi Open, Karagkouni is only 23 and she has only played with one partner on the FIVB World Tour - Arvaniti. “Vicky has been great,” Karagkouni said. “Her experience on-and-off the court is invaluable. She has been everywhere playing Beach Volleyball and has competed at the highest level against the best teams in the world.”
Since Arvaniti and Karagkouni will not qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games via the FIVB World Tour where 15 berths are available, the pair will be part of a Greek team that will be competing in the European Volleyball Federation’s (CEV) Continental Cup competition June 22-26 in Stavanger, Norway. Ironically, Greece’s only FIVB World Tour gold medal for men or women was won in Stavanger where Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou topped the podium in July 2005.
With a guaranteed ninth, Karagkouni has matched her career best on the FIVB World Tour. She and Arvaniti finished ninth at the 2014 South Africa Open as the pair matched that performance with an “impressive” placement two months ago at the Rio Grand Slam on Copacabana where the Greeks had to win two qualifying matches to advance to the “money rounds”.
CEV CONTINENTAL CUP
If Arvaniti and Karagkouni and their Greek teammates fail to win the CEV’s Continental Cup in Norway, but finish second or third, the team will have a final opportunity to reach the Rio Summer Games at the FIVB Continental Cup Finals to be played July 6-10 in Sochi.
“We still have the opportunity to reach Rio,” Arvaniti added, “and winning four-straight matches the past three days is really helping our confidence. We still have three more events to play prior to Norway, so if we continue to improve as a team, we’ll be competitive for one of the final spots in Rio. It will be difficult since all the teams playing in the CEV Continental Cup are hoping and competing for an Olympic berth.”
OTHER POOL WINNERS
Seven other teams from six countries joined the Greeks as pool winners Thursday, including the American tandems of 10th-seeded Emily Day/Jen Kessy of the United States (Pool G) and 18th-seeded Jennifer Fopma/Brittany Hochevar of the United States (Pool B).
While Day/Kessy were 3-0 in group action, Fopma and Hochevar tied atop their pool with second-seeded Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska of Poland with 2-1 record. Fopma and Hochevar, who defeated the Poles Wednesday 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) in 33 minutes, won the tie-breaker with Brzostek and Kolosinska due to point ratio (1.107 to 1.039).
Other pool winners were top-seeded Karla Borger/Britta Buthe of Germany (Pool A), third-seeded Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy (Pool C), fourth-seeded Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland (Pool D), fifth-seeded Ana Gallay/Georgia Klug of Argentina (Pool E) and sixth-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain (Pool F).
The second- and third-place finishers in each pool will meet in the first-round of elimination Friday morning with the winners advancing to the afternoon’s “Sweet” 16” matches against the pool champions. Following Friday’s two elimination rounds for men and women, Saturday’s schedule will feature quarter- and semi-final matches. The medal matches will be Sunday where the winning men’s and women’s pairs will each share the $11,000 first-place prizes.
UP NEXT
Following Sochi, the final four FIVB World Tour qualifying events will be played in Turkey (Antalya, 10-15), the United States (Cincinnati, May 17-22), Moscow (May 24-29) and Germany (Hamburg, June 7-12). Also counting towards Olympic qualification will be the European championships June 1-5 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.