Olsztyn, Poland, July 20, 2017 - Three women’s teams from the Czech Republic combined to win five matches here Thursday at the Warmia Mazury Olsztyn Open highlighted by a win by Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova over Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa of Brazil, the No. 2-ranked team on the 2017 FIVB World Tour.
Seeded 13th, Kolocova and Kvapilova opened with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) Pool D win Thursday morning over 20th-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Amaranta Navarro of Spain before posting a 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) group-clinching victory over the fourth-seeded Agatha and Duda at the Crooked Lake (Lake Ukiel or Krzywe Lake) venue.
While Kolocova and Kvapilova were defeating the Brazilians, Czech Republic rivals Martina Bonnerova and Sarka Nakladalova were advancing from Pool D with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win in 35 minutes over Elsa and Amaranta to finish third in the group and advance to Friday’s first-round of elimination.
Prior to the Pool D successes for the Czech Republic, fifth-seeded compatriots Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova were winning Pool E by defeating 28th-seeded qualifiers Mariafe Artacho/Phoebe Bell of Australia 2-0 (21-14, 22-20) in 39 minutes and 12th-seeded American collegiate champions Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes United States 2-1 (17-21, 25-23, 15-13) in 53 minutes.
Other women’s teams winning their groups Thursday to secure a “bye” for the first-round of elimination play were top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca of Brazil (Pool A), third-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada (Pool C), seventh-seeded Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland (Pool G), eighth-seeded Jagoda Gruszczynska/Kinga Kolosinska of Poland (Pool H), 11th-seeded Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy of Australia (Pool F) and 15th-seeded Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson of Canada (Pool B).
This week’s FIVB World Tour stop is the final event prior to the 11th edition of the FIVB World Championships where play begins July 28 in Vienna. A total of 48 men’s and 48 women’s teams will be competing in the $1-million event with the women’s medal matches August 5 and the men’s finales August 6 in the Austrian capital.
While the women completed two rounds of “modified” pool play Thursday, the men’s schedule featured one round of group play. The Warmia Mazury Olsztyn Open, a four-star event on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar, concludes Sunday with the medal matches as the winning teams will share the $20,000 first-place prizes.
