France makes a good start to 2012 CEV Women’s Continental Cup semi-finals – Volleyball news
The semi-final stage of the 2012 CEV Continental Cup started off on Thursday, May 17 in Sevres, France.
Taking full advantage of the familiar conditions, French ladies dominated the scene on day-1 of the tournament. Pairing of Benhamou-Giaoui and Hamzaoui-Longuet represented France and displayed an incredible action at the “arc Nautique de l’Ile de Monsieur”
sports hall.
According to the competition formula, they were supposed to play four matches. However, one fixture ended in a forfeit and practically three matches were played. France finished the day opening day with a perfect record of 3-0.
France’s Benhamou-Giaoui opened the day by taking on Sulima-Udovenko of Ukraine in the first match. The French side proved to be too strong for young Ukrainian pair and launched full authority on them. The visiting duo failed to sustain the pressure of strong
opponent and strange audience, which led them to defeat in the opening match. French team earned the winning status by posting 2-0 (21-11, 21-12) victory in 29 minutes.
In the next match, Hamzaoui-Longuet of France crossed ways with Ukraine’s Basanova-Hrytsyuk. France’s supremacy was once again backed-up by Hamzaoui-Longuet, who easily managed to edge out the opponents. The Ukrainian pair failed to penetrate the power of
killing spikes and deadly aces from French side. The second match lasted for 31 minutes and eventually French pair emerged successful. They finished the match in straight sets and claimed 2-0 (21-6, 21-13) win over Ukrainian team, which moved France to 2-0
in the competition.
With back-to-back victories, French duos created a whole lot of entertainment for local fans. The spectators screamed out their lungs and raised victory slogans.
The winning French pair of Giaoui and Benhamou returned to action in the third match. They were challenged by Ukraine’s Basanova-Hrytsyuk. Hosts controlled the operations of the game and did not allow the rivals to come up.
In the meanwhile, Hrytsyuk suffered from an ankle injury, which further affected the performance of visiting duo. The match ended with final score of 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) and home team clinched success.
Fourth match of day was supposed to feature French Hamzaoui-Longuet and Sulima-Udovenko of Ukraine. However, the match ended in a forfeit and France marched away with win/loss record of 3-0 on the opening day.
The home heroines of France demonstrated a spectacular feat on the day-1 of the 2012 CEV Continental Cup semi-finals and remained undefeated. Elsewhere, Great Britain, Spain, and Slovakia worked out good performance and bagged opening day victories.
In the next run, French duos will clash with Spanish counterparts on Thursday. Spain also earned success on the day-1.
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