Mangaung, South Africa, December 11, 2014 – Diana Zolnercikova and Martina Jakubsova achieved a personal best at the FIVB World Tour Beach Volleyball Mangaung Open on Thursday. For the first time in their career the Czech girls reached the second knockout round, securing at least a 9th place in South Africa.
In doing so they upset the home crowd at Rose Garden in Bloemfontein, because the girls from Ostrava eliminated South African pair Sekhonyana/Williams with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) win in the first knockout round.
“It’s amazing, I still can not believe it. I am feeling great”, an ecstatic Jakubsova said. “It’s our first time in the top ten. To be honest, we didn’t expect that. Our goal was getting out of the group. But we are so happy we made it.”
The Czechs had a shaky start, trailing in the first part of the match, but they turned it around by playing some smart angle shots. In the second they were leading six points, but they let the South Africans, supported by the enthusiastic crowd on centre court, come back twice. In the end the Czechs ‘manned’ up and Jakubsova finished the game with a big hit.
“Part of it was nerves, the feeling that we had the chance to do it”, Jakubsova explained their hick-ups. “But still at the right times we pushed them and that’s why we won. It can always be better, you know, but still, we won and we played how we wanted to play.”
So far their personal best was 17th at the Anapa and Parana Open this year. Jakubsova: “For our career this is a big step, because we haven’t been playing together for long and now we know we can do it. And we can improve even more and work on it and get better and better.”
South Africa has a special place in their hearts, since the Durban Open last year was their first tournament, finishing 17th. Zolnercikova and Jakubsova have high ambitions, but in order to get to the Olympics they have two great Czech teams in front of them. The second team Bonnerova/Hermannova are also in the second knockout round in Mangaung.
The other team is Kolocova/Slukova, who won the Prague Open and Berlin Grand Slam this year. “Our first team is really good, they have been playing together for so long.” Jakubsova sees them as a role model. “Hopefully if we work as hard as they do, we will be good too. We will see.”
On Friday Zolnercikova and Jakubsova will face Austria’s Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig. “Tomorrow will be a tough game against Austria. They are a good team, but we will do our best and I will enjoy every moment of the game and then we will see what happens.”