Bockermann & Fluggen rebound from layoff, pool play setbacks

Antalya, Turkey, May 14, 2016 – After missing four FIVB World Tour events along with losing a pool play matches Thursday and Friday, Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany rebounded in “fine fashion” here Saturday with three elimination wins over pairs Australia, the United States and The Netherlands in the US$150,000 Antalya Open.

Seeded ninth in the competition, Bockermann and Fluggen will join fourth-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia, sixth-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel of Poland and 25th-seeded qualifiers Georgios Kotsilianos/Nikos Zoupanis of Greece in the Antalya Open “final four” to be played Sunday at BeachPark next to the Mediterranean Sea shoreline in this Turkish resort city.

The other three-semi-finalists had to win only two matches each Saturday as each had won their pools Friday with 3-0 record.  Bockermann and Fluggen won only one of three group matches, including a 2-1 (22-20, 21-18, 15-11) decision in 52 minutes to Kotsilianos and Zoupanis.

SEMI-FINALS

Bockermann and Fluggen will get an opportunity to avenge the setback to the Greeks in Sunday’s first semi-final match as the pool match was the only international meeting between the two teams.  Samoilovs and Smedins has won three of the four FIVB matches with Fijalek and Prudel, who won the last match between the two teams at the Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland last August.  The men’s medal matches will be played late Sunday afternoon with the winning team sharing the $11,000 first-place prize.

The Germans opened play Saturday with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) win in 37 minutes over 12th-seeded Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh of Australia before eliminating third-seeded John Hyden/Tri Bourne of the United States 2-1 (21-19, 16-21, 15-11) in 50 minutes.  Bockermann and Fluggen ended their day with ousting top-seeded Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) in a 34-minute quarter-final match.

With Fluggen injuring a knee at the start of April in a semi-final match with Bockermann at the …

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