Spain off to brilliant start in 2012 CEV Continental Cup Semi-finals – Volleyball news
Spain kicked off the semi-finals of 2012 CEV Women’s Continental Cup in a great way. Spanish duos performed amazingly well and held off the opponents for 3-1 victory on day-1 of the tournament.
The 2012 CEV Continental Cup Semi-finals started off on Wednesday, May 16 and the competition will continue till Saturday, May 19.
The city of Sevres in France is the home of action, while Parc Nautique de l’Ile de Monsieur is the venue of the competition.
Spain went against Finland on the opening day of the tournament. Spain’s Liliana/Baquerizo and Simon-Hopf staged eye-catching action on the net and finished the day with 3-1 record.
In the first flight, Liliana/Baquerizo clashed with Lehtonen-Lahti of Finland. The Finnish duo proved to be an easy competitor and did not give a competition to internationally renowned Spanish pair. Liliana showed no mercy to the opponents and produced
powerful shots, which perfectly landed on Finland’s half. Likewise, Baquerizo complimented her partner and contributed to overall success of their team in the tournament opener.
Lehtonen and Lahti score very low and lost the match in only 30 minutes. Spanish team posted 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) win over Finnish counterparts and added first victory to Spain’s tally.
In the next match, Finland’s golden twins Erika and Emilia Nystrom took sweet revenge from the Spaniards and sent them to first loss of the day. Spain was represented by the pairing of Alejandra Simon/Cristina Hopf in the second match. Comparatively saying,
it was different game as both teams exchanged long rallies and traded leads. However, Finland managed to stamp 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) win over Spanish duo in the end. Finland’s success in the second match brought the game to an even point, where score got tied
at 1-1.
The two victorious pair crossed their ways in the third match of the day, which proved to be a real thriller. Liliana/Baquerizo of Spain came into stride with Nystrom Er.-Nystrom Em of Finland.
The match was a point-to-point battle from start to end. Finland captured the first set with narrow margin of two points (21-19). Second set progressed in the same fashion but produced different results as Spanish team earned the two-point victory (22-20).
In the tie-break third set, Spain performed better and clinched success, 15-11.
Spain’s Liliana shared her views after the match. She said, “This was a great victory, especially since we did not play that good. They were serving well while I was a little nervous and not that confident this afternoon. I was trying to finalize the side-out
as well as I could and eventually it worked fine.”
Simon and Hopf of Spain gave a final touch by claiming the much wanted third match as they defeated Lehtonen/Lahti of Finland, 2-1 (22-20, 14-21, 15-10).
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