Antalya, Turkey, May 12, 2016 - Defending Antalya Open champions Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova continued their winning ways here Thursday morning as the Czech Republic pair captured women’s Pool C while extending their BeachPark winning streak to 10-straight matches by upsetting a pair from Poland.
After posting wins Wednesday over teams from Russia and Sweden, the 14th-seeded Hermannova and Slukova scored a 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-10) pool-clinching win in 51 minutes over third-seeded Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska of Poland to earn a first-round “bye” for the start of elimination play Friday.
TACTICS, TACTICS, TACTICS
“I think our strategy for the match was very good,” said the 27-year old Slukova, who was playing in her ninth FIVB World Tour event with Hermannova after participating in 62 stops with Kristyna Kolocova starting in 2009. “The Polish girls had posted some very good results lately with a medal at March’s Rio Grand Slam, so we are very pleased with our play today. Again, our tactics were very good.”
The match was the second between the two teams with Brzostek and Kolosinska scoring a 2-0 (21-14, 23-21) elimination bracket win in 41 minutes at the Maceio Open on February 26 in Brazil. The victory came two weeks prior to the Rio Grand Slam where the Brzostek and Kolosinska posted their best-ever finish on the FIVB World Tour with a second-place.
Playing in their first FIVB World Tour event since participating almost two months ago in three Brazilian stops at Maceio, Rio and Vitoria, Hermannova and Slukova used the time off to train both physically and mentally. “We spent a lot of mental training time learning how to read each other on the court,” said Czech Republic coach Simon Nausch. “Chemistry between the two players is very important and learning how to handle each other’s emotion. I feel that they are working better together emotionally now.”
Good chemistry for Hermannova (left, green top) and Slukova
LEG INJURY
Hermannova, who started playing together with Slukova last August, entered this week’s event after being slowed lately with a left leg injury. “We are very pleased with our play so far this week,” said the 25-year old Hermannova, who had played in 46-straight FIVB events with Martina Bonnerova before teaming with Slukova. “Our chemistry on the court is much better now as compared to Brazil”
After winning the Antalya Open last October 24 with seven-straight wins, Hermannova and Slukova posted an 8-6 match mark in the Brazilian events with three-straight 17th-place finishes. Overall, the Czech pair is 25-11 in eight-plus FIVB World Tour events.
With the EIGHT pool winners netting a “bye” for the first-round of Friday’s elimination schedule, the second- and third-place finishes in each group will be slotted into the first-round of bracket play. The women’s quarter-finals will also be played Friday with the “final four” matches scheduled for Saturday.
The men’s schedule in the FIVB World Tour event featured a qualifier Wednesday followed by Main Draw pool play matches Thursday and Friday with elimination Saturday. The men’s semi-finals and medal contests will be played Sunday. The winning teams in the Antalya Open will share the $11,000 first-place prizes.