Hermannova/Slukova Earn Czechs Home Gold at Ostrava Four Star

FIVB Ostrava Four Star

Ostrava, Czech Republic
June 19-24, 2018
Schedule/Results

Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, posting two wins on Sunday to claim the Ostrava Four Star title.

The FIVB gold medal was the duo’s first as a pair since 2015, when it topped the podium at the Antalya Open (Oct. 24, 2015). The pair was runner up at the Porec Five Star in July and finished third at the Four Star in Rio last May.

Hermannova/Slukova fought started Sunday with a straight set win over Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider. Once in the final, the pair rallied past Canada’s Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson in tiebreak. The Canadians took the opening set 21-17, but the Czech’s wowed the home crowd with wins of 21-15 and 15-13 to claim the top spot on the podium.

#OstravaBeachOpen gold medalists Slukova and Hermannova 🇨🇿 share their thoughts after their great comeback in the final…#BeachWorldTour #beachvolleyball @CzechVolleyball pic.twitter.com/YofUbUOxW9

— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) June 24, 2018

It was the second tiebreak match of the day for Bansley/Wilkerson, who overcome a Set 1 loss to get past Germany’s Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch in the semifinals (18-21, 22-20, 15-12). The silver medal is the best FIVB finish for the duo and follows a bronze at the Itapema Four Star on May 20.

In the all-German bronze medal match, Borger/Kozuch prevailed in straight sets (21-19, 21-18), securing their first FIVB World Tour medal after several continental and national tournament podium finishes. The pair’s previous FIVB best finish was fifth at both the Itapema Four Star (May 20) and Fort Lauderdale Five Star (March 4).

On the men’s side, Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira claimed gold with a tiebreak win over Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak.

Herrera/Gavira took out Russian qualifiers Konstantin Semenov/Ilya Leshukov in the semifinals 21-19, 28-26, before finishing off a five-match win streak against Kantor/Losiak in the final, 27-25, 15-21, 15-11.

The gold is the first on the FIVB World Tour for the Spaniards since winning the Xiamen Open on April 16, 2016, and follows a bronze medal effort at the Huntington Beach event on May 6.

Happy #OstravaBeachOpen gold medalists Herrera and Gavira of Spain 🇪🇸 after the awarding ceremony…#BeachWorldTour #beachvolleyball @RFEVB pic.twitter.com/RLq81optCj

— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) June 24, 2018

Kantor/Losiak earned their third FIVB medal of 2018, following silver at the Hague Four Star in January and bronze at the Itapema Four Star on May 20. The pair made the final with a straight set win over homestanding Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (21-16, 21-13).

Semenov/Leshukov, which began the tournament in the qualifiers, finished off an impressive showing with the bronze medal, denying the Czechs a home podium finish in a 14-21, 21-18, 26-24 victory. The bronze marks the second medal of the year for the Russians, which won the Mersin Three Star back in May.