European Championships wrap up in Berlin

It's been a good year for Europeans on the FIVB World Tour this year, but where were they this week? The women's semifinal in Kristiansand, Norway featured two Brazilian pairs with American and Chinese duos, and the men's final four consisted of three Brazilians teams with the champs, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the U.S.

Most of the top teams were at the European Championships in Berlin. The European Tour, which has had at least three events every season since 2003, has just one tournament this year, and this weekend was it.

On Saturday, top-seeded Germans Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig defeated third-seeded compatriots Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler in the women's final (25-23, 21-16). Goller/Ludwig are ranked fifth in the world, while Holtwick and Semmler are 17th. In the bronze-medal match fourth-seeded Finnish sister Emilia and Erika Nystrom beat No. 6 Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands (21-17, 12-21, 15-12).

In the men's final on Sunday, sixth-seeded Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil won their third European title by defeated No. 13 Clemens Doppler and Matthias Mellitzer of Austria in the final (21-18, 28-30, 20-18). In the bronze-medal match, No. 10 Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia topped 12th-seeded Spaniards Inocencio Lario and Raul Mesa (21-15, 21-16).

Where were the German men? Top seeds David Klemperer and Eric Koreng fell in the second round of elimination to the Latvians, who also knocked out the second-seeded duo of Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain in the first round. Another Latvian pair, No. 9 Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins, upset reigning world champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany, the No. 3 seed, also in the first round of elimination.