News Beach volleyball 10/10/2014 Spaniards Marco/García storm through to Xiamen Open semifinal Xiamen, China, October 10, 2014 – Spain’s MarcoFrancisco Alfredo and Christian García enter unknown territory storming throughto the semifinal after three wins on Friday at the 2014 FIVB Beach VolleyballWorld Tour Xiamen Open. The $150,000 Xiamen Open is the third visit to China forthe 2014 FIVB World Tour and the second consecutive year in Xiamen.It was an incredible day on Guanyinshan Gold Beach for Marco/Garcíaas the Spanish pair stormed their way through all three rounds to secure theirfirst ever FIVB World Tour semifinal.“It’s the best result for us, it’s the first time wehave made it to a semifinal. Today we played three matches so it’s been a veryhard day and I’m very happy, but tomorrow there is more,” said García.The first match of the day saw the Spaniards beat Israel’sSean Faiga and Ariel Hilman 2-0(21-15, 21-13) in one of the quicker matches of the day at 35 minutes. It waswise of Marco/García to try and conserve their energy for what was to come inthe second round.Aliaksandr Dziadkou and Aliaksandr Kavalenka fromBelarus took the Spanish pair by surprise stealing the first set 21-10. Marco/Garcíathen managed to turn the following two sets around in spectacular fashion withlittle to separate the two teams. The spectators held their breath in the thirdas the teams dived around the court saving point after point before Marco/Garcíafinally finished it and fell to the sands in celebration, 2-1 (10-21, 21-19,21-19).“The match was very hard, the first set I played verybadly. The second set was better and our third set was very good. Thedifference was only one point, it was a good match,” said Marco.In the third round match Marco/García were up against China’sHa Likejiang and Bao Jian and the Chinese crowds on centre court. The Spanishteam finished fifth in FIVB Anapa Open this year, but with their first finalfour in sight, Marco/García showed clear determination from the outset. Given half a chance, García powered down ball afterball and the Spaniards took control of the first set. In the second, theChinese team began to creep up on Marco/García, with Ha Likejiang a giantpresence at the net. It was a Chinese service error that finally gave theSpanish team their ticket to the semifinal 2-0 (21-16, 21-16).“This result is very important for us in thistournament as we can really use the points for next season,” said García.“Tomorrow is another day. Today we will relax, have onebeer. Tomorrow morning I will think about the match,” said Marco.Krou/Rowlandsonhave a medal in mindYouseff Krou and Edouard Rowlandson from France beganthe day confident in the knowledge that only two matches separated them from anall-important semifinal position. Canada’s Maverick Hatch and Christian Redmannwere the first obstacle to overcome in the midday heat. The Frenchmen tookadvantage of their fresh legs to win the match in straight sets 2-0 (21-19,21-18). Their third round match saw Krou/Rowlandson pittedagainst top seeds Turkey’s Volkan Gögtepe and Murat Giginoglu. The breeze hadpicked up considerably by the final match of the day and the teams were dealtchallenging conditions as sand blustered around the court. “We are really pleased because we were able to takeadvantage of the conditions. The wind didn’t disturb our game and it evenhelped us in this particular game against the Turkish team because we servereally well against the wind and I think it was our best game as far as serviceis concerned,” said Rowlandson.“This match wasn’t as intense as the one before againstthe Canadians because it was windy, but not so much sun. We still had to bereally focused on the bad side especially because we managed to side-out well,”said Krou.“When we were on the good side we were serving reallywell and putting the pressure on, but when we went on the other side we reallyfocused on not losing any points on the side-out,” said Rowlandson.Krou/Rowlandson’s 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) victory over the Turkish team takes them totheir first ever FIVB semifinal.“We are hoping to win this tournament but we’ll behappy with a medal. But when you are playing a semifinal it is to win,” said Rowlandson.Russia’s Liamin Nikita and Barsouk Dmitri just beat KotsilianosGeorgios and Zoupanis Nikos of Greece to the third semifinal spot after an epicbattle, 2-1 (22-20, 22-24,18-16). Kotsilianos /Zoupanis finish with an identical fifth place finish tolast year’s Xiamen Grand Slam. USA’s Theodore Brunner and John Mayer are also throughto the final four beating China’s Zhang Lizeng and Li Zhuoxin 2-0 (21-13, 21-14).The men’s medals will be contended at the FIVB XiamenOpen on Saturday.With the Grand Slam portion of the 2014 FIVB World Tournow complete, the tour continues after Xiamen with four double-gender FIVB Openevents along with one men-only FIVB Open tournament. The tour will travel to Argentina for theFIVB Parana Open (Oct. 28-Nov. 2) before heading to Doha for the men-only FIVBQatar Open (Nov. 4-8). India will then host the double-gender FIVB Vizag Open(Nov. 25-30), before the 2014 calendar comes to a close in South Africa withthe double-gender FIVB Mangaung Open (Dec. 9-14). Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News