Perusic & Schweiner to challenge Evandro & Guto for Katara Beach Cup gold
Czech sensations Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner and Brazilian standouts Evandro Goncalves and Gustavo Carvalhaes are the two teams to battle it out on Friday for the 4-star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup gold. They took two victories each on Thursday to make the final of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in Doha.
17th-seeded Evandro and Guto managed to come out on top of a fantastic semifinal clash with USA’s Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser to claim their spot in the last match of the tournament. The two teams exchanged hard-fought wins in the first two sets, both extended into overtime. In the tie-breaker, the battle continued, but the Brazilians maintained an edge throughout to a claim 2-1 (26-24, 21-23, 15-11) victory.
Evandro and Guto celebrate their semifinal win
“We knew it was going to be a really hard battle with the American team. We know them, they know us… We are really happy with this result and to be in the final. The atmosphere here is empty and strange, but we know why. Still, to be back on Tour after such a long time feels amazing! We’ve been waiting for this tournament all year and we are so grateful to be here,” Guto said after the match.
Earlier on Thursday, Evandro and Guto produced a 2-0 (21-11, 21-16) quarterfinal shutout of Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins.
In the second semifinal, Perusic and Schweiner totally dominated over legendary Americans Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser on the way to an emphatic 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) win to make it to their first 4-star final outside their home country.
The 14th-seeded Czechs actually a harder time in their quarterfinal duel with Qatari favourites Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan. They had to battle it back from a set down to claim a 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 17-15) victory in the ony three-set clash for the spots in the semis.
“It’s amazing! We are in the final and it’s hard to describe the feeling. I would say that fatigue played its role today, because Nick and Phil must have been really tired after yesterday’s three tough matches. But it feels great! We performed really well in this tournament, which shows that all our preparation was worth it. I hope that we will continue tomorrow,” Perusic said.
“It’s a big final, with a big blocker and a big server against us. They proved throughout the tournament that they are a top team, so we have to perform at our best and let’s see…” Schweiner added.
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