· Hungary’s EDRA Tata, Slovakia’s Patronka Bratislava and Slovenia’s Ludus Ljubljana occupied the women’s podium
· Austria’s Aloha Woerthersee Klagenfurt, Czechia’s Prague Beach Team and Slovenia’s Ludus Ljubljana claimed the medals in the men’s tournament
Hungary’s EDRA Tata claimed the top spot on the women’s podium at the Middle European Volleyball Zonal Association (MEVZA) Beach Volleyball Club Championships held last week at Beach Club Drazdiak in Bratislava. Austria’s Aloha Woerthersee Klagenfurt picked up the men’s trophy.
The tournaments were played in a club-v-club match format. Each match-up (tie) consisted of two regular duo-v-duo games (rubbers), played by two pairs from each club team. In the direct elimination ties (quarterfinals, semifinals and medal ties), a golden set to 21 points decided the winner, in case each club ended up with one win after the two rubbers played. In each gender, the eight participating teams were split into two round-robin pools of four for the first stage to determine the quarterfinal match-ups for the knockout stage.
MEVZA Beach Volleyball Club Championship - Women
Hungary’s EDRA Tata topped their pool after winning one and drawing level in the other two ties. They went on to beat Czechia’s BeachPunk Brno in the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal meeting with defending champions Ludus Ljubljana of Slovenia. The team from Hungary won both rubbers, 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) and 2-1 (11-21, 21-15, 15-7) to progress to the gold medal showdown.
A golden set decided the other semifinal in favour of Slovakia’s Patronka Bratislava, who lost the first rubber against Austria’s Wien Vienna by a narrow 2-1 (20-22, 21-18, 16-14), but levelled the tie with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-10) sweep of the second. To grab the trophy, EDRA Tata won the final in straight sets, 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) and 2-0 (21-12, 21-16), leaving last year’s runners-up Patronka Bratislava with the silver again.
The bronze medal tie was also decided in a golden set. After a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) win and a 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) loss against Wien Vienna, Ludus claimed the golden set to complete the podium.
After losing their quarterfinals, Austria’s Bergstrand Patsch, Czechia’s Beach Academy Viktoria Brno and Slovakia’s Bratislava joined BeachPunk in fifth place of the final standings.
Women’s results and standings
The MEVZA women’s podium in Bratislava (Photo credits: BVC Bratislava)
MEVZA Beach Volleyball Club Championship - Men
Aloha Woerthersee Klagenfurt, who had both Alexander Huber and Christoph Dressler on the squad, ran a perfect campaign in Bratislava, losing only one of 12 rubbers played. They cruised to the semifinals without dropping a single set in four ties. They then suffered a setback in the first rubber of their semifinal against Patronka Bratislava, 2-0 (21-16, 30-28) but levelled the tie with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-13) sweep of the second match against Patronka Bratislava and then won the golden set to advance to the final. In the gold medal tie, Aloha delivered 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) and 2-1 (21-18, 21-23, 15-9) victories over Czechia’s Prague Beach Team.
In the other semifinal, Czechia’s Prague Beach Team edged ahead of Ludus Ljubljana in both rubbers, 2-1 (32-30, 20-22, 15-10) and 2-0 (21-18, 21-16). However, Ludus Ljubljana then bounced back to snatch the bronze after a golden set against Patronka Bratislava.
The fifth place in the final standings was shared by Croatia’s Vukovar, Czechia’s Beach Service Prague and BeachPunk Brno, and Slovakia’s Bratislava.
Men’s results and standings
The MEVZA men’s podium in Bratislava (Photo credits: BVC Bratislava)