EuroBeachVolley Pool Previews: Men (E-H)

The A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley presented by Swatch is closer than ever as the best teams of Europe will make the trip to Vienna to compete in the continent’s top event from August 11-15, shortly after the Tokyo Olympics.

On July 15, preparations for the tournament reached another significant milestone with the drawing of lots held at Vienna’s town hall getting attention of people all over the world, including players, fans and media.

The outcome of the draw was the formation of eight strong pools for both men and women, guaranteeing elite-level matches right from the first day of competition at the Austrian capital at both the downtown Red Bull Beach Arena and A1 5G Side Courts at the Danube Island.

With the pools already set, we’ll now take some time to present them and try to anticipate what could happen in less than a month when the continent’s elite hit the sand in Vienna. Please keep in mind that the opening stage of the event will feature a modified pool play system, so, unlike the Olympics, a team won’t face all three pool opponents.

In the opening day, the highest-seeded team in a pool will play against the lowest-seeded while the second and third-seeded will also meet each other. The winners will later clash, with the pool’s top and a spot in the Round of 16 on the line, as will the losers, in that case with survival depending on a victory.

The Dutch teams won the last two World Tour events heading in to the Olympics and are arguably the favorites to win the pool. Past world champions and Olympic medalists, Brouwer and Meeuwsen are certainly the most accomplished of the two, but Boermans and de Groot have been on fire this season, culminating with their victory at the traditional Gstaad event.

The German team is a temporary one with the experienced Ehlers joining the up-and-coming, 21-year-old Pfretzschner. The two certainly have potential together and the relative low expectations due to the fact that they’re not regular partners could help them unlock and make out of pool.

Austrians Huber, a Rio 2016 Olympian, and Dressler are the lowest-seeded team in the pool but absolutely don’t’ count them out. The two have been partners since 2018, have tons of experience and won’t have a better chance to get their breakthrough performance than on their home sand.

Did You Know? Boermans and de Groot are the only among all six top-seeded teams in their pools to have never played in the EuroBeachVolley before. De Groot has played in age-group tournament in the continent, though, and has won gold at the 2019 U-20 European Championships.

Pool F is another one to reunite two teams from the same country. Thole and Wickler are among the favorites to top the pool but their main rivals to the task are not their fellow Germans but Italians Lupo and Nicolai. These are two of the stronger and most accomplished teams in the entire tournament, reuniting the silver medalists at the last World Championships and the last Olympics, and expect them to be playing in the last day of the tournament in Vienna.

A potential battle for third place (and survival) between Germans and Russians should be very fan to watch too. Walkenhorst is a savvy and confident veteran and Winter is a rising star in Germany, providing just the right balance to the team.

Likholetov and Bykanov are both very experienced and have long been looking for an opportunity to perform in a top-level event as due to the huge number of Russian teams competing in the World Tour, they’re often relegated to country quotas and qualifiers.

Did You Know? Lupo/Nicolai and Thole/Wickler are on the same pool at the Olympics too so a potential meeting between the two in Vienna could bring out some intense memories and lead to a heated match.

The two top teams in this pool are built in sort of a similar way, pairing a huge blocker (2.08m-tall Stoyanovskiy and 2.12m-tall Varenhorst) with a talented defender (Krasilnikov and van de Velde) who can hit the ball as hard as anyone. The Russians are certainly the most accomplished of the two, having won the 2019 World Championship, but the Dutch have showed they can beat any team in the world.

The only Estonian team to compete at the highest level of international beach volleyball, Tiisaar and Nolvak have established themselves a main draw team in the World Tour and will be looking to improve from the 25^th-place finish they got at both the 2019 and 2020 editions of the EuroBeachVolley.

Italian wildcards Windisch and Cottafava have been slowly getting a grasp of competing in big international tournaments. They played at the World Tour Finals in Rome in 2019 and have earned their invitation for this year’s EuroBeachVolley with solid international performances.

Did You Know? Stoyanovskiy and Krasilnikov will try to become the first men’s team to simultaneously hold world and European titles. Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst did so for 15 days in 2017 until compatriots Nadja Glenzke and Julia Grossner took the European crown from them.

Ermacora/Pristauz and Semenov/Leshukov played each other in the semifinals of the 2019 EuroBeachVolley and if that time the Russians used their home court advantage to win in Moscow, now the Austrians will be at home if the teams play in the pool final as many expect.

Based on experience, the Belgians are probably in a stronger position to make out of pool. Koekelkoren and van Walle have long been knocking on the door to get their team among the elite of the continent and last weekend’s World Tour victory in a one-star in Belgian sand might just give them the push the needed to go for it.

The Belarusians, however, are among the toughest dark horses a team would want on their pool. They haven’t played in many tournaments together so far, but have showed potential, winning a pair of World Tour one-stars, and will pose their opponents with the rare (and dangerous) challenge of playing a team with little information but clear potential.

Did You Know? Semenov tried to continue his career in indoor volleyball after the Rio Olympics. The blocker, who started his career playing indoor and won bronze at the U-21 European Championship in 2008, spent one season playing for a club in Russia before returning to the sand at the end of 2017.

If you missed part 1, where we looked at pools A, B, C and D, here it is.

Next week we’ll analyze the four women’s pools, so please come back for more!