CEV European Championships 2024

They were drawn in a strong pool including Spain, Italy and Austria after the Norwegians withdrew after a busy two weeks of action at the Olympics. 

Knowing it would be a tough competition the Bellos needed to bring with them every piece of experience they had gained in the last 12 months.

The Bello’s started their European Championship campaign against the Olympic quarter-finalists of Herrera and Gavira who were knocked out by the Norwegian bronze medalists of Mol and Sougrm in the Olympics just last week. 

The pair started well with a great defensive display taking set number one 23-21. They looked to carry this momentum into the second set but were just pipped with a nailbiting 26-24 scoreline to the Spanish team. 

This led to a third set which also needed to be decided by some tiebreaking points which ended the way of the Spanish pair 17-15. 

Hoping to put this behind them they were next up on Thursday against the Italian pair of Marchetto and Windisch. 

The Bellos came out the gates swinging with some huge blocks and unpassable spikes. 

Taking the first set a comfortable 21-10 they took the bit between their teeth with their eyes set on getting out of the group stages.

They almost repeated the same scoreline in the second set with a 21-12 result meaning they were guaranteed a place in the group stages after the pair from Spain were able to defeat the Austrian pair of Schnetzer and Kindl. 

But to give themselves a better position in the group stages they knew they would need to beat the Austrians to allow them to finish second in the table and hope the Italian pair couldn’t overcome the strength of the Spanish. 

The brothers carried the same aggression and power into their final pool match with another convincing victory over the Austrian pair who despite their best efforts couldn’t handle the power of Javier and the wall of Joaquin. 

 This set up a knockout stage match against the French pair of Rotar and Gauthier-Rat who finished third in Pool G after one win and two losses. 

Victory would see them into the next round of the knockout stages and one step closer to matching their result from last year in Vienna. 

If they were to progress against the French side it would put them up against another Olympic pairing of Cottafava and Nicolai from Italy who made it to the Round of 16 before getting knocked out by the American pairing of Partain and Benesh. 

Sadly the French pair suffered an injury in the pool stages meaning they were unable to challenge in the round of 24 against the Bellos. 

This then guaranteed them a space in the Round of 16 with a tough match against Cottafava and Nicolai who are ranked 6th in the world. 

In the Round of 16 they started incredibly well keeping pace with the pair from Italy. They worked hard to keep every ball playable and showcased some great shot selection. 

But the experience of the Italians just pushed them over the edge and they took the first set 21-19. 

This was a similar story in the second set with a huge effort put into every point with Joaquin even running into the score table to try and keep a ball alive. 

But sadly the pressure of the Italians ran too strong with a 21-18 second set meaning the Bello’s run in the European Championships came to an end after a great run of results. 

Javier and Joaquin will play in the Elite 16 next week in Hamburg and will hope to carry their momentum and gained experience into that competition. 

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