Beach volleyball stars Marketa Sluková and Barbora Hermannová entered the 2020 Czech Championships as the favorites and they didn’t disappoint, claiming the title in Opava. The men’s tournament also had a predictable outcome with World Tour regulars Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner stepped at the top spot of the podium.
Sluková and Hermannová, the 2018 Vienna Major winners, had to deal with a setback in the quarterfinals to Maria Sara Štochlová and Martina Maixnerová on Saturday, but they returned to their usual form on Sunday and got revenge against the 21-year-old Štochlová and Maixnerová, downing them 22-20, 21-13 to take the title.
“It’s never easy, they don’t give us anything for free,” Hermannová reacted. “We served well and kept them under pressure, which helped. Except for a moment in the second set when I struggled with my passing, we did a good job in keeping our lead.”
The bronze medal of the Czech Championships went to Daniela Resová and Miroslava Dunárová, who needed all three sets (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) to defeat Michala Kvapilová and Michaela Kubíčková and finish third.
Among the men, the top Czech team at the international level also prevailed with Perusic and Schweiner downing Vaclav Bercik and Jan Dumek in straight sets (21-16, 21-12) to take gold. Jakub Sepka and Tomas Semerad finished third after their three-set (21-19, 19-21, 15-10) victory over Patrik Manas and Jiri Sedlak.
“I am very happy that we are Czech champions together for the first time,” Perusic commented. “It was not easy and knew every detail would matter. It was a nice preparation for the European Championships.”
Kociolek/Ceynowa and Bryl/Rudol are the Polish champions
In Poland, a couple of well-known World Tour faces finished at the top spot of the country’s National Championships as Katarzyna Kociolek and Michal Bryl benefited from temporary partnerships with Agata Ceynowa and Mikolaj Miszczuk to win the tournament in Myslowice and become national champions.
Kociolek, an Under-19 and Under-21 world champion, couldn’t play with regular partner Kinga Wojtasik and picked up Ceynowa. The duo won the event with a 24-22, 21-19 victory over Monika Brzostek and Aleksandra Gromadowska while Dorota Strag and Jagoda Gruszczyńska finished third.
