Prague, Czech Republic, May 20, 2015 - Three days after placing fourth in the FIVB World Tour stop in Switzerland, Barbara Hansel and Stefanie Schwaiger had to qualify for this week’s Main Draw as the Austrians scored wins here Wednesday over pairs from Croatia and The Netherlands to advance to “money” rounds in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Prague Open 2015.
With Wednesday’s 24-match schedule played in a light rain with temperatures in the mid-50s (13°C), the US$75,000 Prague Open also saw teams from Brazil, Japan, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United States earn a spot in Thursday’s opening Main Draw rounds where action begins at 10 a.m. (local time) featuring 32 pool play matches on the sands of Stvanice Stadium.
Austria AcesPlaying in their sixth FIVB World Tour event together, Hansel and Schwaiger started the 2015 FIVB World Tour international Beach Volleyball campaign by placing 25th at last month’s season-opening event in Fuzhou, China. The Austrians rebounded last week to advance to the semi-finals in the Lucerne Open.
“We did not feel bad about our play in Fuzhou,” said the 28-year old Schwaiger, who placed fourth with her sister (Doris) at last year’s Prague Open where the Austrian sisters dropped a three-set semi-final match to eventual champions Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic. “We won our last match in Fuzhou by defeating a very good Brazilian team (Carolina Horta and Liliane Maestrini) in three sets,” said the 31-year old Hansel. “Despite our placement, it was a good start to the season and the win over the Brazilian team gave us confidence.”
Schwaiger said she did not mind “the damp and cool conditions. We had to play one day in Lucerne in the rain with cooler conditions. Maybe, the rain brings us luck.” Last Friday in stormy Lucerne, Hansel and Schwaiger eliminated second-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler of Germany to advance their first FIVB World Tour “final four” together.
In The Money NowOther teams advancing to Thursday’s Prague Open Main Draw were second-seeded Eduarda Lisboa/Elize Maia of Brazil, fourth-seeded Angela Lobato/Paula Soria of Spain, seventh-seeded Tatyana Mashkova/Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan, ninth-seeded Brittany Hochevar/Heather McGuire of United States, 19th-seeded Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema of The Netherlands, 27th-seeded Ayumi Kusano/Shinako Tanaka of Japan and 28th-seeded Nina Betschart/Nicole Eiholzer of Switzerland.
The ScheduleFeaturing women’s competition for the second-straight season, the sixth annual Prague Open continues through Sunday on the sands of Stvanice Stadium. After two rounds of pool play Thursday, the 32-team Prague Open Main Draw schedule will have the final pool play round Friday mid-day followed by an afternoon elimination round where the second- and third-place finishers in group play compete for a spot in the “Sweet 16”.
The pool winners earn an elimination “bye” and will play their first elimination matches starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. The third women’s event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar, the Prague Open concludes Sunday with the playing of the semi-final and medal matches.
The semi-finals will be played at 11 a.m. followed by the third-place match at 3 p.m. and the gold medal finale at 4 p.m. The winning team will share the $11,000 first-place prize with $8,000 for second, $6,000 for third and $4,500 for fourth-place. This week’s stop is also the third women’s qualifying event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.