11/05/2019 21:00
Czech Republic’s men secure ticket to CEV Continental Cup second round
2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
Portorož, Slovenia, May 11, 2019. After some rainy days that made it more difficult to set up the courts, a sunny spring Saturday brought more joy to the organisers and participants of the 2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup event in Portorož. In the men’s competition, the Czech Republic have already made it to the next phase and are now a step closer on the road that takes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Top-seeded Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner (pictured) opened the event with straight 2-0 (21-8, 21-13) win versus Israel’s Sean Faiga and Keinan Kopech. In the second match featuring teams from these same countries, Vaclav Bercik and Jan Dumek outplayed Ofri Masuri and Eylon Elazar 2-0 (21-14, 21-12), thus securing the Czech Republic a spot in the final.
The home heroes Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik emerged victorious from their match with Alan McKnight and Jonathan Workman of Northern Ireland 2-0 (21-10, 21-6). Jure Peter Bedrač and Vid Jakopin claimed the second Slovenian 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) win defeating Peter Stewart and Jeff Scott.
Teams from Slovenia and Northern Ireland in action on the first day of competition in Portorož.
In the women’s Pool E, Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina stormed over Bulgaria’s Stefani Kyoseva and Eva Petrova with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-3) win. Their compatriots Alise Lece and Marta Ozolina followed them by defeating Irena Mishonova and Nikol Duleva 2-0 (21-8, 21-12) as well. “You have to take every game seriously but I think the other team was not so ready and that is why we won quite easily. I believe that tomorrow we will have good matches and it will be tough. We will see what will happen,” Ozolina shared her thoughts on the tournament.
Later in the day, Masuri/Elazar continued their campaign and claimed a 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) victory over McKnight/Workman, before the other Israeli team Faiga/Kopech outplayed Stewart and Scott 2-0 (21-12, 21-7) to keep Israel in contention.
In the first place matches, Czech duo Perusic/Schweiner delivered a great performance and did not allow Jakopin/Bedrac to threaten them winning by 2-0 (21-10, 21-14). Schweiner was confident after the match: “We started the match really focused; although the opponents did not have many entry points, we knew that they can play good. I think we deserved this win.”
In the second match of the finals, Slovenia’s top team Zemljak/Pokeršnik closed the overall gap, defeating Bercik and Dumek 2-0 (21-16, 21-15). In the golden match, however, the home matadors did their best, but ended up a little short of claiming the first place. “Of course it is a bit of a bitter taste after the defeat. We knew that we could play against them, but there are always details that are decisive in this kind of matches. Today it was their turn to win the most important points. We will do our best tomorrow versus Israel and I hope that we will proceed to the next phase,” commented Zemljak.
Ondrej Perusic (CZE) displaying his skills during the Golden Match against Slovenia.
On the other side of the net, Perusic/Schweiner were super happy with their 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) win. “The whole tournament was really tough, although the score maybe does not reflect it. In the first match, we had a tough Israeli team to play and we needed to bring our best game to claim the win. It is also always hard to play against the home teams, so in the first match of the finals, we had to focus on the things that we discussed with our coach and in the second match, we faced a team against which we have lost more matches than we have won, so far. I am really happy that we made it, especially on their home soil, and we are really looking forward to the second round of the Continental Cup.”
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