Beach volleyball elite on course for victory

With Berntsen/Mol H. the Norwegians went into the first match on Wednesday morning at the A1 CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup 2022 and took the first point in the first set. The German team led by Henning/Winter was able to catch up and even overtake the two beach volleyball youngsters for a short time, but after an equalizing point by the Vikings, the score was 3-3 after the first minutes of the match. The Germans were then really getting into the swing of things, and with the Norwegian No. 1 team following suit, they took turns equalizing points until the technical timeout with the score at 11:10 for the Germans.

Seems like the short break was good for the Norwegian guys, because they quickly caught up again and took a two-point lead at 16:14. Things got exciting when the Germans were able to catch up with their Norwegian rivals again, tying the score at 19:19. Immediately after Norway made their first set point, which the Germans were able to fend off. Goosebumps arose when the Germans served their set point into the net at a score of 23:22. The two teams continued to play for the alternating set point until the technical timeout at a score of 26:25 for Norway and the fifth for the beach volleyball superstars. It finally worked out on the eighth set point and the Norwegians took the win in set number one with a final score of 29:27.

The Germans secured the first point in the second set and took the lead with more points and a strong block from Henning, which they continued to defend and eventually called the first technical timeout with the score at 12:9. Even after this short break, the Vikings came back stronger and made up two points before the Germans claimed a timeout with a score of 13:11 on their side. The Germans continued to keep the point advantage and it came at a score of 20:17 to the first set point for the Germans, with which they immediately succeeded and won the second set.

In the decisive third set, the German men started to show signs of a lead, but the Norwegians made up for it with an ace service at 7:9 and cut it to 10:11. A block by Mol H. led to the tie. The two teams continued the neck-and-neck race like this and delivered an exciting rally until the end. Finally, the Vikings managed to get the first match point, which the Germans defended skillfully. On the second match point, the Norwegians finally managed to get the decisive point due to the referee's decision on a double touch by Henning, which meant the victory in the third set at a final score of 17:15 and the victory of the whole first match.

The second match was contested by the beach volleyball superstars, Olympic, World and European champions and in general the capacity players in the beach volleyball business Christian Sørum and Mol Anders against the German team with the 19-year-old New Face Momme Lorenz and the veteran Lukas Pfretzschner. Mol A. scored the first point of the first set with a block and in his usual manner the Vikings secured the first four points, whereas the Germans came up empty until then and only managed to get the first point for themselves when the Norwegians had a five-point lead. Despite an enormous defensive effort by Pfretzschner, the German team unfortunately failed to break through. The non-plus-ultra team of beach volleyball continued to dominate with fast rallies and secured one point after the other and finally won the first set without any danger with a score of 21:9.

In the second set, the German men whirled a bit at the beginning, but Sørum/ Mol A. quickly regained a point advantage. With the Germans trailing by 5 points, the teams went into the technical timeout at a score of 13:8. Especially the six blocks and six ace services characterized the play of the Norwegian beach volleyball No. 1 in this match. Not surprisingly, the Vikings also won the second set with a score of 21:12 and secured a 1:0 in the Nations Score for Norway.