Prague, Czech Republic, May 21, 2015 - It is not easy being a defending champions, and Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic found out the hard way as the 2014 Prague Open winners were defeated here Thursday afternoon by a Germany pair during the second round of pool play in the sixth annual Prague event.
Two-time gold medal winners on the FIVB World Tour, including their first-ever international title on the sands of Prague’s Stvanice Stadium last spring, the top-seeded Kolocova and Slukova posted a two set win at noontime Thursday over a pair from Switzerland before losing 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) to 17th-seeded Anni Schumacher and Sandra Seyfferth of Germany in 43 minutes.
The Czech pair can still win their group (Pool A) by defeating 16th-seeded Taru Lahti and Riikka Lehtonen of Finland in a mid-day Friday match and hoping that the Germans lose to 32nd-seeded Nina Betschart and Nicole Eiholzer of Switzerland. If Czech and German teams win Friday, Pool A will end a three-way tie with the deadlock broken by set and point ratios.
BIGGEST WIN
“This is our biggest win as a team,” said the 26-year old Schumacher. “The Czechs led for most of the first set, but we were able to make the plays at the end. The second set was also close and we used our defense to make the big plays. It always tough to play a host country team before their fans, but we were able to stay consistent throughout the match and did not let the home crowd impact our play.”
With the Prague Open being the Germans fourth FIVB World Tour event together, Schumacher and Seyfferth finished 17th in the 2015 international season opener last month in China before failing to advance out of the country quota playoff matches last week in Lucerne, Switzerland.
“We played a lot better this week,” said Schumacher, who left Lucerne and played with Seyfferth in a German domestic event this past weekend in Hamburg. “We lost a tough three-setter to the Fins this morning, so winning at least one match today is great. Now, we must continue to play well against the Swiss tomorrow.”
POOL PLAY UNBEATENS
Joining Lahti and Lehtonen as undefeated teams Thursday are second-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas of Brazil (Pool B), third-seeded, Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany (Pool C), the fourth-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara, Pool D), seventh-seeded Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada (Pool G) 12th-seeded Sayaka Mizoe/Takemi Nishibori of Japan (Pool E), 11th-seeded Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug of Argentine (Pool F) and 24th-seeded Eduarda Lisboa/Elize Maia of Brazil (Pool H)
ELIMINATION PLAY
Pool winners all earn a first-round “bye” when elimination bracket play starts Friday afternoon. The pool victors advance to Saturday’s schedule and the second “knock-out” round. The second- and third-place finishes will play in Friday’s opening round of the 24-team elimination bracket with the winners earning a spot in Saturday’s schedule where the quarter-finals will be played in the afternoon to set Sunday’s semi-final pairings.
Sunday’s 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.
MOSCOW NEXT
The FIVB World Tour resumes men’s and women’s competition next week with the Moscow Grand Slam (May 25-31). The FIVB World Tour’s first “Major Series” stops are set for Croatia (Pore?, June 1-7) and Norway (Stavanger, June 8-14) before the international circuit crosses the Atlantic for the final world championship “tune up” in the United States for the St. Petersburg Grand Slam in Florida (June 15-21). The 2015 FIVB “senior” Beach Volleyball World Championships will be played at four sites in The Netherlands starting June 26 with the final matches scheduled for July 5 in The Hague.