Ontiveros & Virgen set the Example for Mexican Teams
LAUSANNE, Switzerland - During the first 17-season period of
FIVB-sanctioned beach volleyball events, men’s and women’s pairs
from Mexico had never finished higher than fifth on the World
Tour.
But in April 2014 at a tournament on home sand next to the
Pacific Ocean in Puerto Vallarta, Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan
Virgen broke the lack of semifinal appearances for Mexico on the
international circuit and claimed the bronze medal by defeating
Germans Finn Dittelbach and Eric Koreng 2-1 (21-16, 18-21,
21-19) in a 62-minute third-place match.
In their next 35 international starts through July 2017,
Ontiveros and Virgen advanced to five more semifinals at events
in Turkey (Antalya), China (Xiamen and Qinzhou), Brazil
(Fortaleza) and Poland (Olsztyn) to be ranked among the world’s
elite pairs highlighted by a sixth-place standing on the 2016
points list.
Ontiveros and Virgen played together for the first time in an
FIVB event at the 2012 FIVB Continental Cup competition in
Moscow, where Mexico advanced to the finals before being
eliminated by Austria for a berth at the London 2012 Olympic
Games.
“We got together at FIVB events for the first time in Moscow
2012,” said Lombardo Ontiveros. “In that tournament, we switched
partners for the golden set. Although we missed out in
qualifying for London, we had the opportunity to share our
Olympic dreams with each other, thus we talked with our coach
and he accepted to guide us.”
“To achieve our goals, our dreams, we had to synchronize our
work and play," said Virgen. "We have dealt with the hard
moments together, accompanied by our coach, and always have in
mind what we are fighting for; these are the key points of our
partnership.”
Speaking about memorable moments together, Lombardo Ontiveros
cites matches at the final 2016 Olympic qualifying event in
Germany, followed by a pool play victory at the Rio Summer Games
and a gold medal win at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.
“By defeating the Latvians (Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza,
2-0, 21-18, 21-19 in 34 minutes) in Hamburg, we qualified for
the Rio Olympics. That match also advanced us to the
quarterfinals, where we lost to Alison (Cerutti) and Bruno
(Oscar Schmidt) in three sets,” said Lombardo Ontiveros about
their fifth-place finish in the German event.
The Rio pool play win over eventual Rio silver medal winners
Daniele Lupo and Paola Nicolai “opened the 2016 Olympics for us
with a victory,” Ontiveros continued. “We won two of our four
matches on Copacabana and placed ninth in one of our sport's
biggest events.”
Ontiveros said the “Toronto gold medal win over a Brazilian team
was the first time that Mexico had won a major gold medal in our
sport. That opened the door for us to continue playing at an
international level.”
In the Toronto Pan American Games, second-seeded Vitor Felipe
and Alvaro Filho of Brazil defeated Ontiveros and Virgen 2-0
(21-14, 33-31) in a 57-minute pool play match before the
Mexicans avenged the setback in the finals by scoring a 2-1
(18-21, 21-13, 15-8) win in 57 minutes.
As for the top teams on the FIVB World Tour currently, Virgen
mentions pairs from the Netherlands (Alexander Brouwer/Robert
Meeuwsen), Norway (Andres Mol/Christian Sorum) and the United
States (Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena).
“Those three teams have good defensive quality,” said Virgen of
the three teams that the Mexican pair has posted a 2-11 record
against on the FIVB World Tour. We have to be very strategic
with them.”
In addition to competing on the FIVB World Tour together along
with also placing second at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games,
Ontiveros and Virgen have compiled a winning record on the
NORCECA Tour where the Mexicans have captured 12 gold medals in
24 starts together with three seconds, two thirds and 18
semifinal appearances.
As for the World Tour, Ontiveros and Virgen have competed
together 63 times on the FIVB circuit with a 140-110 match mark
(56.0 winning percentage). In two Pan American Games, Lombardo
Ontiveros and Virgen have won 11 of 14 matches with a pair of
medals.
In three FIVB World Championship appearances, Lombardo Ontiveros
and Virgen have placed ninth, 17th and 33rd with a 7-6 match
mark. At the 2017 Vienna Worlds, the Mexicans defeated eventual
gold medal winners Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola in three
sets during pool play. Ontiveros and Virgen also defeated
Evandro and Pedro Solberg in pool play at the 2015 World
Championships in the Netherlands where the Brazilians captured
the bronze medal.
As for their current status, Ontiveros said “we were in total
confinement for several months, but weeks ago we finally started
to train little by little. We started the season working hard
but being at home and stopping the travel was complicated
because it is a radical change to our past way of living. But
the pandemic has given us time to live with our families at home
and do things that we are not used to since we usually don´t
have time.”
Still seeking a spot in the Tokyo Summer Games, Virgen said “the
delay of the Olympics was something that we never expected. We
try to see it in the best way as an opportunity to get better
physically and mentally. We are trying to get focus and see the
positive things and changes that this brings to our team.” |