Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic, February 26, 2017. An all-Czech all-rookie final was Sunday’s highlight of the women’s competition at the second stop of the 2017 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour. Ninth-seeded Marketa Bendikova/Nicole Dostalova triumphed with the gold and put a little premature ending to the Cinderella story of qualifiers Ludmila Lojkova/Radka Tuckova by beating them in straight sets in the last match in Špindlerův Mlýn.
In Saturday’s second round, Bendikova/Dostalova suffered a tiebreak loss to top-seeded compatriots Anna Dostalova/Michaela Knoblochova. However, once in the losers’ bracket, they never lost a set again, cruising through five matches all the way to the top of the podium. In their semi-final against another Czech duo, fourth-seeded Natalie Kolderova/Andrea Rybova, they took 14 minutes to manage a 2-0 (12-10, 11-5) victory.
In the other semi-final, Lojkova/Tuckova, who had to go through Friday’s qualifications to make the main draw competition, claimed a sensational come-from-behind victory against pre-favourites Dostalova/Knoblochova 2-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-8).
The final itself, especially in the first two sets, was an interesting tough battle between the two Snow Volleyball rookie teams, but it ended too soon, with Bendikova/Dostalova rejoicing after the third set with a 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-6) win.
“We played Snow Volleyball for the first time and we did not expect to come out on top. It feels great! It was a good experience for us. It is extremely difficult to move on the court, but we had a lot of fun and we hope we will come back. Now we go back to the Czech Extraliga and we will play Snow Volleyball again maybe next year,” Marketa and Nicole said immediately after their winning rally.
In the third-place match, the #1 seed of the tournament, Dostalova/Knoblochova, claimed a come-from-behind 2-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-5) victory over Kolderova/Rybova and settled for the bronze. They started the day with yet another tiebreak win. In the last losers’ bracket round, Dostalova/Knoblochova defeated the second-seeded Slovakians Silvia Poszmikova/Zuzana Snopkova by 2-1 (11-2, 12-14, 11-7), thus shaping up an all-Czech semi-final line-up.
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