Perusic & Schweiner reach new heights in Xiamen

 Xiamen, China, April 21, 2018 – Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner from Czech Republic are reaching new heights at the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open.

Quick links - FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour:
Xiamen - Website
Xiamen - Schedule and Results
Xiamen - Tournament Notes

The Czech team’s best FIVB World Tour result to date was a win at the Montpellier one-star in 2017, and their progress at the Xiamen four-star sees them enter the quarterfinals. Perusic/Schweiner made their way through the qualification tournament, earning five wins including against Germany’s Markus Böckermann and Lars Flüggen in the second round of qualification.

“Our aim was to qualify for main draw. When we saw the draw for the second round qualification we knew it would be a tough match and we made it and we said OK, we made it and whatever we get extra will be a bonus and we will just enjoy,” said Schweiner.

“It’s amazing, I can’t even express the feeling. It’s the first time we’ve been this far. Since getting into the main draw, we played just in the tiebreak, so it could go one way or another, so so far we are the luckiest team of the tournament because we won almost all of the tiebreaks. Hopefully our coach will survive because the heart attacks we are giving are getting worse and worse,” said Perusic.

Ondrej Perusic (left) and David Schweiner from Czech Republic against Swiss team Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson

To enter the quarterfinal, the Czech pair defeated Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson who have also been displaying strong form in Xiamen, 2-1 (22-20, 17-21, 15-13).

“The first set we were even and then we made some good service and won. That is our usual scenario, we are leading a lot and then we lose five points and then we win the set…sometimes,” said Schweiner.

“We found out that we are not used to winning. The first set we made it tight by our mistakes, but we were the lucky ones in the end. The second one, the Swiss guys were better from the beginning, they really pushed on the serve and with their good defence and we were not able to score any transitions. The tie-break I would say was similar, in the beginning we were leading by a lot, the Swiss guys were under pressure and then of course they came back in the match and we were the ones under pressure, we were the ones making mistakes and again as in the whole tournament so far, we were the lucky ones in the end,” said Perusic.
Ondrej Perusic from Czech Republic at the net with Adrian Heidrich (middle) and Mirco Gerson from Switzerland

“Now we can only enjoy it, we are the underdogs since we made it into the main draw so we can play without the pressure and try to surprise another top team,” said Perusic.

“It’s only the third time we have been in the main draw in such a big tournament and we so this road through the tournament is amazing for us. We would of course like to continue and give our best to make it into the semifinals, but we know that fifth place is amazing,” said Perusic.