Italian duo remains undefeated at the London Olympics – Volleyball News
The dynamic Italian duo of Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti continued with success in their second match of the 2012 London Olympics Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament and improved to 2-0 in the competition.
7th-seeded Cicolari/Menegatti overpowered Britain’s Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullins in the second fixture on Tuesday, July 31. The match ended in 37 minutes and produced following result: 2-0 (21-18, 21-12). Despite the advantage of familiar conditions,
the home duo failed to overcome the resilient rivals from Italy and suffered the loss. Victory, on the other hand, enabled the Italian pair to climb up the top spot in Pool F.
Cicolari–Menegatti opened the tournament on Sunday with a tough match against Russian pair of Ukolova/Khomyakova. The tournament opener spanned over three sets and put both teams to a real test of skills and temperament. Italian tandem dropped the first
frame of the match, but displayed remarkable improvement in the following two sets. The match ended with final score of 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-8), while Cicolari and Menegatti marched away with victory.
With one victory in the hand, Italian team took on home duo of Dampney and Mullins at the Horse Guards Parade. Around 15, 000 spectators came to watch the thrilling action of women’s beach volleyball. The crowd was mostly composed of local fans from Great
Britain. However, visiting Cicolari/Menegatti played their normal game, and did not show any sign of intimidation.
Equipped with enormous support of local fans, the Britons opened the match on a high note and hit some classy shots to impress the visitors. They added quick points, but Italians were also prepared for the hard-knock. The guest duo responded well and did
not allow Britons to take full control of the operations. Cicolari/Menegatti influenced the home side with an onslaught of spikes and closed first set at 21-18.
The loss of opening set dragged home duo under pressure and affected their performance. In the meantime, Italian tandem brought more ferocity in attack and totally dominated the scene. They locked Dampney/Mullins at a low score of 12 and achieved the match
points.
“We changed our strategy early in the first set,” Cicolari said. “We began by serving at Dampney, but she was receiving well, so we changed it around more and it seemed to work. Things have gone well up till now and we’re playing well. Now we’ll have to
see what happens in a day and a half.”
Canada’s Annie Martin and Marie-Andree Lessard are scheduled to meet Cicolari–Menegatti in the next match on Thursday. Italian pair is totally shaped up to go through the preliminary stage of the tournament undefeated.
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