Czechia’s leading women’s pair, Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, lived up to their status as the top-seeded team of their home-based Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Brno Futures event and took the gold, leaving American qualifiers Teegan Van Gunst and Kimberly Hildreth in second place and France’s Clemence Vieira and Aline Chamereau in third. Both the Czech and French pairs are among the beneficiaries of FIVB’s Volleyball Empowerment programme.
In the men’s tournament in Czechia’s second largest city, Norway’s Markus Mol and Jo Gladsoy Sunde topped the podium, home duo Vaclav Bercik and Matyas Dzavoronok took the silver, and Germany’s Momme Lorenz and Eric Stadie settled for the bronze.
The 2023 Brno Futures women’s podium (Photo credits: cev.eu)
The Czech women’s beach volleyball pairs are benefitting from CHF 144,000 worth of coach support through Volleyball Empowerment, while French beach volleyball has already been allocated targeted support of CHF 590,000 since 2019, ahead of playing host to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Under the guidance of Argentinean coach Sebastian Menegozzo, 32-year-old two-time Olympian Hermannova and her 24-year-old partner Stochlova left no doubt over their superiority in Brno and cruised through the tournament dropping only a set during the five matches played on the way to the gold. In the semifinals (pictured in the main photo; credits: cev.eu), the Czechs persevered through an extended second set to overcome sixth-seeded Vieira and Chamereau with a 2-0 (21-14, 23-21) victory, before mastering a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) win over 16th-seeded Van Gunst and Hildreth in the final.
It was the first Futures medal for Hermannova and Stochlova, while they also have three Beach Pro Tour podiums at the Challenge level, a Dubai 2022 gold, an Agadir 2022 silver and an Edmonton 2023 bronze.
For 32-year-old Hildreth and 28-year-old Van Gunst, it was the first Beach Pro Tour appearance as a pair. They started from the qualifiers and made it all the way to the final, losing only two of their eight matches, both to Hermannova and Stochlova. In their semifinal game, the Americans produced a 2-1 (10-21, 21-17, 15-11) comeback against fifth-seeded Wies Bekhuis and Desy Poiesz of the Netherlands to secure a podium spot.
In the third-place match, 27-year-old Chamereau and 22-year-old Vieira managed a nail-biting 2-0 (33-31, 21-19) win over the Dutch to make it to their third consecutive Beach Pro Tour podium. Coached by Brazilian specialist Lissandro Dias Carvalho, the French duo also took silver at the Lille Futures and bronze at the Warsaw Futures at their previous two Tour appearances.
Sunde attempting to block a Dzavoronok shot in the men’s final (Photo credits: cev.eu)
In the men’s final in Brno, fourth-seeded Norwegians Mol and Sunde disappointed the home fans with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) victory over 11th-seeded Czechs Bercik and Dzavoronok. For 21-year-old Mol and 20-year-old Sunde, it was already the third Beach Pro Tour gold, after winning at Warsaw 2022 and at Ios 2023, and the third back-to-back Beach Pro Tour podium, after also claiming bronze at the Helsinki Futures in early July.
In the semifinals, the duo outpaced another Czech duo, top-seeded Jan Dumek and Jiri Sedlak, by 2-0 (21-19, 21-19), while 26-year-old Bercik and 21-year-old Dzavoronok delivered a 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-10) comeback against 19-year-old Lorenz and 27-year-old Stadie to secure their second Tour medal, after the gold they earned at the 2022 Ios Futures.
The 12th-seeded Germans, who made their Beach Pro Tour debut as a pair in Brno, recovered with a 2-1 (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) upset of Dumek and Sedlak in the third-place match to claim their first medal.
The 2023 Brno Futures men’s podium (Photo credits: cev.eu)
A total of 52 teams representing 20 different countries took part in the Brno Futures.
Source : fivb.com
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