The 21-year-old Spanish were one of the first four teams to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the event held at the Danube Island, alongside Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi, Switzerland’s Joana Mäder/Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene/Aine Raupelyte.
Álvarez and Moreno’s two-set (21-19, 21-14) victory over Tina and Anastasija in the Round of 16 at the Red Bull Beach Arena was just another step on what has been a remarkable campaign of the Spanish at the EuroBeachVolley – the two won all three matches they played at the Danube Island so far and are yet to drop a set in the event.
Last year’s U22 European champions, the Spanish had a memorable first appearance on the EuroBeachVolley, finishing in fourth place in 2022. More experienced and more confident, they want to go further this week in Vienna.
“Our mindset was never to approach this match as if we weren’t up to their level. Of course, they were the European champions and are a very strong team, but all we had in mind was that we had to give everything and to enjoy it. Last year’s EuroBeachVolley was a big push for us to keep improving. It gave us the confidence to keep pushing this year and to keep getting better.” - Tania Moreno
Their quarterfinal opponents Menegatti and Gottardi are also undefeated on the EuroBeachVolley with three victories – on Thursday, the Italians overcame Finland’s Niina Athiainen and Taru Lathi in straight sets (21-12, 21-15) in the Round of 16.
The duel between Spanish and Italians will be a repeat of last year’s EuroBeachVolley’s quarterfinals, when Álvarez and Moreno triumphed in straight sets in the first encounter between the teams. Menegatti and Gottardi, however, won the most recent match on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.
“We just lost to them a few weeks ago in Gstaad on the Beach Pro Tour, but I feel that our confidence level is much higher now. Enjoying the moment is very important for us and I think that has brought us here. The atmosphere here in Vienna is amazing and we just want to keep enjoying it and playing our best game.”- Daniela Álvarez
The two other teams that advanced to the quarterfinals on Thursday had to play two matches to remain alive in the tournament. Paulikiene and Raupelyte had two spectacular three-set victories, eliminating Czechs Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sara Štochlová with a 2-1 (21-17, 22-24, 15-12) win in the Round of 24 and triumphing in the tie-breaker (21-16, 20-22, 21-19) against Dutch Olympians Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam in the Round of 16.
The 2020 EuroBeachVolley champions, Mäder and Vergé-Dépré swept (21-13, 21-17) Slovenians Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin in the Round of 24 and pulled off a three-set (17-21, 21-19, 15-13) Round of 16 triumph against Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova and Ievgeniia Baieva.
The remaining four Round of 16 matches will be played on Friday – two at 10:00 and the other two at 11:00. The earlier Switzerland’s Nina Brunner/Tanja Hüberli vs. Spain’s Liliana Fernández/Paula Soria and Switzerland’s Zoé Vergé-Dépré/Esmée Böbner vs. Italy’s Margherita Bianchin/Claudia Scampoli while the later duels will have Germany’s Cinja Tillmann/Svenja Müller vs. Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann and the Netherlands’ Brecht Piersma/Emi van Driel vs. Czechia’s Miroslava Dunarova/Daniela Resova.
All four quarterfinals will also be held on Friday, at 10:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 16:15. The semifinals and medal matches will end the women’s tournament on Saturday.
