With the Czech Republic represented in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals for the first-time, Hermannova and Slukova qualified for Hamburg via their international ranking.  The pair placed ninth earlier this month at the FIVB World Championships earlier this month in Vienna.  Hermannova and Slukova began their partnership in August 2015 and qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games via the FIVB Continental Cup in Sochi, Russia.  Slukova and Hermannova have won a World Tour gold medal (Turkey 2015) and finished second in the 2016 European championships.  The pair also posted a second (Porec Major) and third (Rio de Janeiro) this season.  Hermannova played in her first FIVB events in 2008 and has competed in 75 world tour stops with two gold medals starting with a 2014 first with Martina Bonnerova in Mangaung, South Africa.  Slukova, who placed fifth at the London 2012 Olympics with Kristyna Kolocova, has competed in 86 world tour events since 2009.  She and Kolocova teamed for gold medal finishes in 2014 at Prague and Berlin.