Pelhrimov, Czech Republic, January 12, 2018.  15-year-old Mariia Bocharova and 17-year-old Maria Voronina stirred a real sensation in the women’s competition at the 2018 CEV Beach Volleyball European Masters in Pelhrimov. The two Russian teenagers continued their winning streak from Thursday’s qualifications into Friday’s main draw pool play and became one of the four teams that have already secured their direct tickets into the quarterfinals.

Bocharova and Voronina are playing their fourth CEV tournament. After winning gold at the previous three in 2017 – the U18 European Championship, the U20 European Championship and the Baku Satellite – losing only one match along the way, they are continuing their victory quest on an even higher level, at the European Masters on Czech sand.

The 14th-seeded Russians started their day with a 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) upset of third-seeded Czechs Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilová and went on to top Pool C with s 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) shutout of Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen and Niina Ahtiainen. The 2017 European Championship silver medallists Kolocova and Kvapilová saved their day with a straight-set win (21-16, 21-17) against Dutch Joy Stubbe and Marleen Ramond-van Iersel for the third place in the pool.

“We are very happy to have won these two matches,” Maria Voronina said. “We started this tournament with two victories in yesterday’s qualifications and today we won our main draw pool. I look forward to playing in the second elimination round tomorrow and I am very excited about the way things turned out.”

The top-seeded Czech duo Barbora Hermannová and Marketa Slukova won the very last match of the day where at stake was the first place in Pool A. After a 2-1 (21-14, 22-24, 15-10) victory over Slovakia’s Andrea Strbova and Natalia Dubovcova in the longest match of the day earlier in the afternoon, the Czech favourites had to persevere through a second three-setter, this time coming back from a set down on the way to a 2-1 (9-21, 21-16, 15-9) turnaround against Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger and Kim Behrens. The pool’s top three was completed by Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova and Ievgeniia Shchypkova.

“It looked like Barbora was not on the court in the first set, and in the next two she had an amazing performance,” Marketa Slukova commented on the game against the Germans. “It was a typical Beach Volleyball match where the better-serving team had a great advantage. In the end, the Germans looked quite shocked about how we got back into the match.”

“We are in top eight and this is a great success for us, because the level of this tournament seems to be at least as high as that of a three-star World Tour event,” Barbora Hermannová added. “Real top teams are playing here in Pelhrimov, and the more of such matches, the better for us.”

Second-seeded Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli from Switzerland emerged on top of Pool B after cruising to a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) win against Czech wildcards Martina Bonnerová and Sarka Nakladalova and a tough 2-1 (24-22, 13-21, 15-11) victory over reigning U22 European Champions Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina from Russia. Germany’s Karla Borger and Margareta Kozuch also stepped into the single-elimination stage of the main draw after knocking out Bonnerová and Nakladalova in the pool’s third-place match.

Also directly qualifying to the quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Finns Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen went through Pool D undefeated in two hard-fought matches - 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 15-12) against Dutch wildcards Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink and 2-0 (21-15, 27-25) against fifth-seeded Poles Kinga Kolosinska and Katarzyna Kociolek. Young Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka beat experienced Keizer and Meppelink in three sets to stay in contention.

The first elimination round, which will determine the other four quarterfinalists, will be played at 10:00 and 11:00 local time on Saturday, with quarterfinals themselves scheduled for 14:00 and 15:00.

All matches on Centre Court will be streamed live on CEV’s YouTube channel and will be available for viewing by the fans in the Czech Republic and all countries where TV rights have not been sold.

To follow the live score of all the games on the event’s webpage, click here.

Engage with the 2018 CEV Beach Volleyball European Masters Pelhrimov on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroBeachVolley.

Click here for more information on the Pelhrimov Masters.