Mangaung, South Africa, December 11, 2014 – Giulia Momoli and Laura Giombini defeated home team Palesa Sekhonyana and Randy Williams 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) Thursday morning to top their pool at the FIVB World Tour Beach Volleyball Mangaung Open in South Africa.
With two wins each so far the centre court match was going to decide who would end on top. The first set was point-by-point, but in the end Momoli and Giombini pulled through. Sekhonyana and Williams came back strong in the second with a lead, but started making too many mistakes, giving the Italians the opportunity to win the match and the pool.
“It was a good start of the day, we are very happy”, Momoli said. “It’s been a strange pool with three South-African teams. But we have been focussing on our game and our goal.”
What that goal is the two girls would not say. “We have a secret goal”, Momoli said. “We are not going to tell you. We just want to focus game by game. Because if you look too far ahead, you’re going to sabotage yourself.”
The Italians can now focus on their next match, which is going to be in the second knockout round on Friday. Giombini: “But we are going to practice today, even when we have the day off. Because it’s hot, but humid and we are not used to this climate and we still have to get acclimatized so we will be comfortable with the climate.”
This is only the fourth tournament for the Italian team. Their best results so far were 9th at the Parana Open and 5th at a challenger in Thailand. “We are here because we love beach volleyball, we have practiced hard all these months and this is a good opportunity to get some good points for the next year”, said Momoli who’s been out last year with a knee tendon injury.
If they will continue as a team next year, is still uncertain. The federation is trying out teams and decides later. “We don’t know who we will be playing with next year. So we’re actually playing for ourselves here. It’s difficult not knowing”, 33-year old Momoli said.
“In my case I changed partners three times this year. It’s hard, because it’s very important to have a feeling with your partner and practice all the time for the long haul and not have to change every month, every tournament.”
“But we are ok”, she continued. “It’s going well. We are in the national team and we have the same goal. If you focus and stay strong you can play good beach volleyball.”