05/11/2016 22:45
Czech teams take half of semi-final spots at CEV Satellite on home sand
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Pelhřimov
Pelhřimov, Czech Republic, November 5, 2016. As many as four of the semi-finalists at the CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite in Pelhřimov are Czech. The home teams were joined on Saturday night by tandems from Norway, Austria, Slovenia and Finland – all still chasing a spot on the podium.
The third day of action at the CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite started early in the morning on Saturday with the top four seeds of the men’s and women’s tournaments contesting their first matches on Czech soil.
France’s Aline Chamereau and Ophélie Lusson did a very good job in Pelhřimov, as they first made it through the qualification round before putting up a fight against top seeds Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic. Chamereau and Lusson finished their campaign in seventh place. “This was probably our best tournament of the 2016 season. We finished fourth at the national championships but we wanted more from that competition,” Chamereau said.
As the day progressed and many matches were played, the fans in Pelhřimov slowly got to know the names of the eventual semi-finalists. After going through a few ups and downs, the home stars Slukova/Hermannova and Michala Kvapilova/Kristyna Kolocova sealed through to the semis. Kvapilova, who has been playing Beach Volleyball for the first complete year, said: “We had a tough first match against the Germans Tillmann/Schillerwein, the second one was easier for us.”
Finland’s Ida Sinisalo and Niina Ahtiainen, who partly train in their home country and partly in the Czech Republic, also qualified to the semis as did Sarka Nakladalova/Martina Bonnerova of the Czech Republic. Sinisalo/Ahtiainen will play Kolocova/Kvapilova in the semis as Slukova/Hermannova are set to play Nakladalova/Bonnerova for a spot in the gold medal match.
At for the men’s competition, top seeds Christian Sandlie Sørum and Mathias Berntsen of Norway lived up to their status. They made it to the semis without dropping a set and secured their spot among the top four of the tournament after edging Slovenia’s Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik. “We opted to play this Satellite and preferred it over a NEVZA tournament which is currently being contested in Göteborg because we have the opportunity to play more quality teams here. We also like this venue very much,” said U22 European champion Christian Sandlie Sørum who was happy to hear that on Sunday a much bigger centre court will be set up with tribunes, a DJ and speaker – and live TV coverage will be provided for the final matches.
Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner were the second team that progressed to the semis with an immaculate record. They were loudly cheered on by the local crowd as they claimed a close matchup with France’s Maxime Thiercy and Romain Di Giantommaso, thereby sending these young guys to the losers’ bracket. Ondřej, a former high-level floorball player, commented: “The match went way better than we expected. My teammate David blocked superbly and aggressively. Maybe he blocks better indoors than outdoors as he used to be an indoor Volleyball player.”
The remaining semi-finalists emerged later in the evening from the losers’ bracket. Austria’s 2016 national champion Florian Schnetzer and partner Daniel Müllner will open tomorrow’s semi-final programme against Berntsen/Sørum. Slovenia’s Jan Pokeršnik and Nejc Zemljak also made it to the semis and will be challenging home stars Perušič/Schweiner.
The CEV Satellite in Pelhřimov will reach its climax on Sunday afternoon with the men’s final starting at 15:15 to be followed by the women’s gold medal match to be broadcast live on Czech TV and streamed for free at LAOLA1.tv – something which applies to all matches on schedule for Sunday.
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