Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2014 - While two other German teams finished last in their pool at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam, Karla Borger and Britta Büthe kept the hopes up for the home fans.
The vice-world champions defeated Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) on Thursday and topped the pool with three wins.
The first set was close, but in the second the Italians lost concentration and the will to fight. “I was a bit surprised that we won this match with these numbers, especially the difference in the second set, because it did not feel like that”, said Borger.
“We made many mistakes. I had some aces, but also a lot of mistakes in service, served a lot without pressure. So I think we have to work on some stuff. They stopped playing, maybe because we had some lucky balls, in, out, touching the net. I think that took them a little bit out of the game.”
One step closer to semis
“But I am happy”, Borger continued. “We won the pool, so we have one less game tomorrow. That’s actually perfect. If I imagine we would have to play three tomorrow, it would be difficult to get to the semis. Now it’s one step closer to it.”
On Friday the 4th seeded Germans will continue in the second elimination round. Borger and Büthe finished 5th in all of the four international tournaments they played this year, including the European championships.
We don’t want to finish 5th again”, said Borger. “I mean, we have played at a stable level, but we don’t want to finish 5th all the time. So this is a good tournament to maybe try not to get just 5th.”
“My whole family and Britta’s family is here, my brother lives in Berlin. There are many people here in Berlin that love beach volleyball and they are all going to come. So I hope we still play at the weekend, so people who have to work during the week can join us.”
Misfortune
About the misfortune of the first seeded German team Holtwick/Semmler, who finished fourth and are out of the tournament, Borger said: “It’s women’s sports. That sounds bad, but actually the level of the teams is very close, so it can happen to anyone to lose the group.”
Also out are Mersmann/Schneider, while Laboureur/Sude advanced as number 3 in their group.
“We women think too much”, Borger continued. “If we lose, we play the next one like shit and then you’re really struggling. In a home tournament you want to be successful, maybe that was a disadvantage for them.”
Asked if they felt any pressure, she said: “We play because we like to play and don’t think about anything else.”