Spain moves to semi-finals with 3-1 win over Great Britain – Volleyball news
With win/loss record of 3-1, Spanish men advanced to the semi-final stage of the 2012 CEV Continental Cup, which is currently underway in Sevres, France.
The tournament started off with the quarter-final matches on Thursday, May 17. Duos from Denmark, Estonia, Poland, Great Britain, Spain, hosts France, and Sweden joined the competition. On the day-1 of the tournament Spanish tandems crossed their ways with
Brits. A total of four matches were played to determine the semi-finalist. Spaniards proved the steel of their forearms and clinched the semi-final berth.
The action kick started with a hotly contested match between García-Marcos of Spain and Weaver-Gooding of Great Britain. The former duo ousted the opponents but earned the victory after a tough competition. GB pair put up a valiant effort to stop the Spaniards.
They hit from all angles and used many different tactics to dismantle the power of Spanish men, who established their early lead in the match. The game of ‘hit n run’ continued for almost 38 minutes and finally García-Marcos captured the limelight as they
posted 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) on board.
The loss of opening match simply raged up the Brits. Grotowski-Garcia-Thompson backed up the Great Britain with a comeback victory in the following match. They downed Mesa-Lario of Spain in straight sets of 21-18 and 21-16 in 40 minutes. The convincing performance
of the Grotowski-Garcia-Thompson created a hope for Great Britain to stay in the competition. It was indeed an admirable effort by the Brits but they could not carry the momentum into their next game.
Grotowski-Garcia-Thompson clashed with García-Marcos in the third match of the day. No. 7 ranked Spanish duo confirmed the ambition for victory with a display of wonderful feat. However, the British did everything they could do to break the rhythm of charged-up
Spaniards. The first set of the match ended while the scoreboard showed the difference of the three points, 21-18.
Spain claimed the opening set but had a tough time to deal with speed bombs from the other side of the net. Eventually, Spanish side got better with a small margin of two points at 23-21 and edged out resilient rivals.
Spain controlled the operations of the game in fourth match. Mesa-Lario of Spain held off Weaver-Gooding for Great Britain for 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory in 44 minutes. Hence, Spain finished the day with 3-1 record and moved ahead.
In the next run, Spain is scheduled to meet Sweden in the crucial semi-finals. Spanish tandems are totally shaped up to give a hard knock to the opponents from Sweden. The winner of the third-day matches will advance to the final showdown of the tournament
slated for Saturday, May 19.
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