The tension and excitement of CEV Queen & King of the Court European Finals 2022 came to a boiling point on Thursday evening in the BetCity Arena in Utrecht. Anastasija Kravcenoka/Daniela Konstantinova and Patrikas Stankevicius/Audrius Knasas won the nail-biting 5th place play-off in dramatic style. On Friday the 4th-place play-off will start the day and we’ll continue with all quarterfinals.
Men
This day will be long remembered by both Stankevicius/Knasas (LTU) and Dirk Boehlé and Mees Sengers from the Netherlands. In a last deciding rally Boehlé had the match-winning ball at his fingertips, but he placed the ball outside of the line, causing the Lithuanians to cheer for reaching the 4th-place playoffs.
The Dutchmen were working on an almost perfect comeback, trailing 13 to 5 at the interval with 5 minutes to go. Backed by an almost sold-out stadium the Dutch equaled the score of the Lithuanians at 15 with just eight seconds left to play. They still needed to claim that final point, because with the teams tied at 15 the Lithuanians were through on a longer stay on the King’s side. In a heart-throbbing rally Dirk Boehlé had the point for the making, but placed his high-line shot just outside of the line. Check it out below.
I the two regular Group Stage pools King of the Court royalty rose to victory. World and Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum won their group, as well did Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen from the Netherlands in front of their home crowd. They’re through to the quarterfinals with a golden ball in hand to replay a rally as they see fit. Check out the quarterfinal line-up here.
Women
The women’s 5th-place play-off wasn’t as dramatic as the men’s, but you could feel tensions were high during the 15-minute round. Anastasija Kravcenoka and Daniela Konstantinova secured their spot, we’ll see them again on Friday.
The two remaining Group Stage matches were won by Norway’s Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Emilie Olimstad and Swiss Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Menia Bentele, who on her first outing showed she has a grip on the format. Hamburg’s Queens Pleun Ypma and Emi van Driel are also comfortably through to the quarterfinals that will be played today.
Check out the entire line-up for the quarterfinals here.
Thrilling 4th-place playoffs
Friday start at 13.30 with the most thrilling play-off matches of all. Three round of five minutes will decide which three teams may continue their quest for royal glory, the other two are eliminated.
Follow us live
Today’s matches can all be watched at EuroVolley.tv. Local tv-broadcasters may also carry the matches, check here
if the matches are shown in your region. The quarterfinals starting at 20.30 are available on YouTube
as well, free for anyone to watch.
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