Norwegian victory in beach volleyball

Couples Tarjei Skarlund / Martin Spinnangr, image, and Iver Horrem / Øyvind Hordvik delivered in the continental European Cup in volleyball. Here from the tournament in Stavanger. (Photo: Kristian Jacobsen)

Norway pairs Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr and Iver Horrem/Øyvind Hordvik victory in the European Continental Cup Beach Volleyball Sunday.

Lund Skar / Spinnangr first beat reigning world champions from Germany Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann. Then came the match against the winners of this year’s Grand Slam in Stavanger, Germany’s David Klemperer / Eric Koreng.

Portugal, Slovenia, Germany and Norway met in the Slovenian Alps to make up for further games in qualifying for the Olympics in London 2012. The tournament works so that the two best teams from each country compete against each other and the overall winner advances.

So it was Norway

Good start

Tarjei SkarLund/Martin Spinnangr and Norway’s another group Iver Horrem/Øyvind Hordvik won their matches against Portugal on Saturday. Germany did the same against Slovenia, and thus it was Norway vs Germany in the final.

Skarlund/Spinnangr crushed Brink/Reckermann 2-0, while Horrem/Hordvik impressed greatly with a win against Klemperer/Koreng by 2-1. In the reverse battles they lost, however, both the Norwegian team lost narrowly 1-2, and the score was 2-2 in matches.

This had all settled in a golden set, where the country coaches decided which two players would fight for victory.

Skarlund/Spinnangr were picked by coach Martin Engvik to meet Brink/Reckermann.

Tie-break

The set was played as a breaker to 15 points. Norway struck from the start and won 15-12. Few had believed that Norway was to be the big favorites.

As winners of the tournament Norway directly qualified to the third round, while the Germans have a new qualifying round game to advance to round three. The last round is played first in 2012, in the Olympic year.

Players can also qualify through repeated success in the world series, while the continent Cup provides an extra chance.

Source: Stavanger Aftenblad