Czech female duo finds glory at pool play of 2012 CEV European Beach Volleyball Championship
The 2nd-seeded tandem of Kolocova and Slukova from Czech Republic demonstrated stellar performance on the first two days of 2012 CEV Women’s Beach Volleyball European Championship Finals and clichéd a berth in the Main Draw.
The 2012 CEV Women’s Beach Volleyball European Championship Finals started out on Thursday and completed the pool-play stage on Friday. Kolocova-Slukova kicked off the tournament in Pool B and finished the preliminaries with 3-0 record. They played two matches
on Thursday, while appeared in the third fixture on Friday.
They defeated duos from Russia, the Netherlands, and Poland in order to claw their way to the next round of the tournament.
In the first match on day-1, they were challenged by Russian Vasina-Vozakova. The opposite team had the advantage of good physique and tall stature. Russians tried to use the competitive edge and created enough trouble for the Czech duo. The opening set
of the match was a point-to-point battle as the score shifted up with close intervals but Czech team managed to overcome the rivals, 22-20.
The Russians hit back aggressively in the second frame and took sweet revenge from Czech duo by posting 21-17 on board. The game entered the third decisive set, which was again a see-saw battle. Both sides exchanged long rallies and jumped on every little
opportunity to score points. Eventually, the pairing of Kolocova-Slukova got lucky in winning the final set (18-16) and pulled off success with a narrow gap of points.
After beating the Russians, Kolocova and Slukova crossed their ways with Stiekema-Braakman from Netherlands on the same day. The Dutch team had the advantage of playing at home and had the support of local fans. They took a great start in the match and captured
the opening set, 21-18.
Republicans improved their performance in the following set and did not let the hosts get away so easily. They fired back and levelled the game score (1-1) by winning second set with four points, 21-17. In the tie-break third set, situation remained undecided
until Kolocova hit the final shot and put an end to the tussle at 15-13. Czech Republic took 52 minutes to dismiss the home duo in front of the local audience.
With two wins in hand, it was not difficult for Kolocova - Slukova to overcome Brzostek-Kolosinska of Poland in Friday’s match. The Czech pair continued with success and staged a consistent performance, which led them to 2-0 (21-13, 21-10) victory against
Polish team in 28 minutes.
Kolocova – Slukova remained undefeated in the pool-play matches and advanced to the Main-Draw.
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