Czech and Austrian teams triumph at MEVZA event in Innsbruck
News
The latest stop of the Austrian Beach Volleyball Tour PRO, which doubled as a MEVZA zonal event, finished on Sunday in Innsbruck downtown with home favourites Magdalena Rabitsch/Anja Trailovic and Czech duo Vaclav Bercik/Matyas Dzavoronok triumphing with the gold medals.
Even though the weather was glorious on Saturday, a storm posed some major challenges to the organisers on Sunday and eventually only the semi-finals and the women’s bronze medal match could go ahead at the Market Square. After that, the inclement weather prevented any Beach Volleyball action for a few hours. In the evening, however, the tournament could resume, with the last matches contested on the side courts.
In the men’s final, Austria’s Florian Schnetzer/Lorenz Petutschnig played against Vaclav Bercik/Matyas Dzavoronok. Schnetzer/Petutschnig had previously celebrated a 2-1 victory in the semi-final with compatriots Clemens Doppler/Thomas Kunert, thus making amends for their loss to the very same opponents in the group stage of the tournament. In the final, however, the Austrians lost 1-2 to Bercik/Dzavoronok.
“We are super happy. It was obviously a dream tournament for us. The Czechs were simply stronger in the final. We are already looking forward to the next tournament,” said Schnetzer.
Lorenz Petutschnig (AUT)“What a turbulent end to the tournament but it is great that we were able to decide on the court the winner of this competition! A mega event that would have deserved a grand finale on the centre court, but that will come next year. Otherwise, everything was sensational. Great atmosphere, great games. We are happy with the second place. Next year we will fight for gold.”
Doppler/Kunert missed out on the bronze medal after losing 1-2 to Kevin Cuzmiciov/River Day from Israel.
The women’s final was a remake of the gold medal match from a previous stop of the Austrian tour held in Graz, as it featured home teams Eva Freiberger/Stephanie Wiesmeyr and Magdalena Rabitsch/Anja Trailovic. The young players from Carinthia, who this week will represent Austria at #EuroBeachVolleyU22 in the Netherlands, prevailed just as they did in Graz – winning in three sets this time as well.
“It is cool to finish second at an international event. If someone had told us that before the tournament started, we probably would not have believed it,” said Freiberger, who was satisfied with the performance despite the defeat in the final.
Stephanie Wiesmeyr (AUT)“Unfortunately, we were not able to perform to our full potential in the second and third sets of the final, but we hope we can do it next time."
In the match for third place, Slovakia’s Lubica Siposova/Eva Elekova won 2-1 against Anna Dostalova/Justyna Frommova from the Czech Republic.