2012 Technion Challenge Cup takes centre stage – Volleyball news
The 2012 Technion Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup started off on Tuesday in Haifa, Israel.
The competition was supposed to begin on Sunday but experienced a delay of two days on account of some technical difficulties. Nevertheless, the event got the green light on Tuesday and first round matches were played.
In the women’s section, a total of eight matches were played. The American duo of Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson started things off at the Technical Challenge. They clashed with German counterparts Britta Buthe and Karla Borger in the first fixture of
the day. The players had good energy to kick off the action.
First set featured balanced action, while Fendrick/Hanson claimed better status (21-19). The German pair put up extra effort in the following set but could not avoid the loss. The US tandem closed second set with 21-17 on board and bagged first victory of
the 2012 Technion Challenge.
Following the loss of opening match, the German team took on Emilia and Erika Nystrom of Finland. The Finnish sisters had a good start in the match and easily managed to win the first frame. The German Buthe/Borger scored only 12 points in the first set.
However, they managed to overcome the Finnish opponents in the second set (21-16) and tied the game score at 1-all. Third set also came successful for German pair as they posted 15-12 on board and won the match.
On the other hand, the winning American duo of Fendrick and Hanson appeared in the second match against Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of Czech Republic. The US team maintained its dominance in the game and added another victory by defeating Czech
pair.
Liesbeth Mouha and Katrien Gielen of Belgium also joined the winners of day-1 by beating Republic’s Lenka Hajeckova and Hana Klapalova. The Belgian pair proved to be too strong for Czech competitors and earned the winning status in straight sets. The set
scores were: 21-16, 21-17.
In the next encounter, Belgian tandem was challenged by Anouk Vérge-Dépré and Isabelle Forrer of Switzerland. The match spanned over three sets and Swiss duo gave a good competition to Mouha/Gielen. They claimed opening set with two-point lead at 24-22 but
could not carry the momentum into following sets. Belgian team won the next two sets back to back and announced match victory.
The 2012 Technion Challenge Beach Volleyball Cup is scheduled to continue till Thursday. More thrilling fights are expected in the coming round of the tournament. The American Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson are going strong in the competition and it is
likely that they will secure the top position of Technion Challenge Cup.
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