16/08/2018 21:23
Pre-favourites secure spot in #EuroBeachVolleyU18 elimination phase
2018 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Brno, Czech Republic, August 16, 2018. Half of the pool play matches took place at Brno Reservoir on Thursday as the second largest city of the Czech Republic is playing host this week to the 2018 edition of the CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship. Two Czech pairs have secured their place in the elimination phase, as did both teams from Russia and Slovenia. Other teams with two wins on Thursday are Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig, as well as Finland’s Valma Prihti/Oona-Maria Ojala, Wies Bekhuis/Raisa Schoon from the Netherlands, Kristine Briede/Vanesa Grosberga from Latvia and Italy’s Marika Costabile/Erika Ditta.
Home favourites Julie Honzovičová and Lucie Šulcová started the tournament with two victories over teams from Hungary and Cyprus, and they achieved these wins quite comfortably. “We started the tournament in the best possible way,” Šulcová said. Seeded no. 1, Šulcová and Honzovičová finished the first day of the tournament by scoring 84 points and conceding only 43 to their opponents. “Maybe we are lucky to play in an easier pool, but we still want to play our best and achieve the best possible position for the knockout phase,” Honzovičová added.
Home favourite Lucie Šulcová in action during pool play at #EuroBeachVolleyU18 in Brno
Russia’s Mariia Bocharova and Elizaveta Ludkova performed very well too and won both of their Thursday’s matches in two sets. They as well as their compatriots Denis Shekunov and Dmitrii Veretiuk confirmed that they want to play their best just as they did at the U19 World Championship and U20 European Championship earlier this season, where Bocharova, Shekunov and Veretiuk claimed a full set of gold medals.
Reigning U19 World champion and U20 European champion Dmitrii Veretiuk of Russia easily spikes past the Israeli block
Seeded no. 25, the home team Jindřich Zavadil and Jakub Šépka found their way to win two tiebreakers, beating opponents from Austria and Norway and they are now close to making it through into the next round. The second match against Eivind Brekke and Nils Gunnar Ringøen was especially very tough for the Czech pair. After winning the first set 26-24, they struggled in the second and lost 7-21 to the Norwegians. “Everything went wrong; I had coordination problems and I was totally down physically,” Zavadil claimed. Fortunately, he regrouped in the third set and to impress the opponents he used a sky-ball service at the end of the tiebreaker, which ended 15-6 for the Czech team.
The second half of Pool Play matches will take place on Friday and fans can look forward to seeing who will eventually advance to the elimination phase of #EuroBeachVolleyU18.
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