Duos from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Czechi and Latvia swept all podium spots at the Brno Futures on the Beach Pro Tour. The home teams clearly dominated. Czech pairs picked up as many as five of the six medals, leaving only one of the bronzes to a foreign duo. Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova (pictured in the main photo; credits: Pavel Netolicka / cev.eu), Marketa Svozilova & Marie-Sara Stochlova and Andrea Lorenzova & Mariana Tomasova delighted the home fans by collecting the gold, the silver and the bronze, respectively, in the women’s tournament. Ondrej Perusic & Jakub Sepka defeated Matyas Dzavoronok & Jiri Sedlak in an all-Czech men’s final, while Latvia’s Olivers Bulgacs & Marcis Berzins finished third.
The Czech Volleyball Federation has been granted USD 252,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams and another USD 18,000 in national beach volleyball team coach development knowledge transfer programs. Their men’s pairs take advantage of Italian coach Andrea Tomatis’s expertise, while the women’s duos capitalize on the coaching of Argentinean expert Sebastian Menegozzo. The Volleyball Federation of Latvia has been funded with a total of USD 210,000 in coach support for their national teams in beach volleyball from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, in addition to USD 5,500 in beach volleyball equipment. Their duos are working under the guidance of coaches Sandris Andrejevs and Edgars Zaizenijs.
Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova won the first three of their matches in Brno in straight sets, but when it came to the distribution of the medals, they had to resort to tie-breaker resolutions to stay unbeaten and claim the gold, their second on the Beach Pro Tour, after the Messina Futures last year. They also have one bronze on their team’s record. In the semifinals in Czechia’s second biggest city, second-seeded Neuschaeferova & Maixnerova achieved a hard-fought 2-1 (29-31, 21-13, 15-13) win over fourth-seeded compatriots Andrea Lorenzova & Mariana Tomasova, and in the gold medal showdown, they battled it out for a 2-1 (24-22, 22-24, 15-11) upset of the top-seeded pairing of Paris 2024 Olympian Marie-Sara Stochlova with Marketa Svozilova.
Svozilova & Stochlova did not lose a single set on the way to the final. They crowned their winning streak with a tight 2-0 (22-20, 23-21) semifinal victory over third-seeded Austrians Oleksandra Shkarupa & Magdalena Rabitsch, securing their second consecutive podium, following the gold they claimed at the Shangluo Challenge last month. Before that, the duo had one silver at the Futures level.
Previously competing on the same side of the net, Neuschaeferova & Svozilova won the Brno Futures together back in 2024.
In the bronze medal match, Lorenzova & Tomasova outlasted Shkarupa & Rabitsch to celebrate a 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-11) win and their fourth Beach Pro Tour podium as a pair, after collecting one gold and two silvers earlier this season.
2023 world champion and two-time Olympian Ondrej Perusic and Jakub Sepka topped the men’s podium in Brno to decorate their Beach Pro Tour debut as a duo with gold. They did not drop any sets in the five matches played, although the last one was pushed really deep into overtime before they could celebrate an epic 2-0 (21-14, 37-35) victory over Matyas Dzavoronok & Jiri Sedlak in the final.
In the semifinals, top-seeded Perusic & Sepka mastered a 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) shutout of ninth-seeded Italians Tobia Marchetto & Riccardo Iervolino, while second-seeded Dzavoronok & Sedlak produced a 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) win over sixth-seeded Latvians Olivers Bulgacs & Marcis Berzins and also secured a podium finish upon their Beach Pro Tour debut together.
Each of the two finalist teams featured one defending Brno Futures champion as last year the men’s podium was conquered by Jakub Sepka & Jiri Sedlak.
The recently formed Latvian tandem of Bulgacs & Berzins captured their second consecutive bronze, after their third place at the Tallinn Futures last week. In the bronze medal game against Marchetto & Iervolino, they took a 2-1 (22-20, 17-21, 15-11) victory.
26 women’s and 28 men’s pairs representing 19 different federations took part in the Brno Futures.
The next Futures stop on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Budapest, Hungary from September 3 to 6.
