Lucky losers Maixnerova and Stochlova end up pool winners

Larnaka, Cyprus, July 29, 2016 – Czech girls Martina Maixnerova and Marie-Sara Stochlova proved to be worthy of the second chance they were given at the FIVB U19 World Championships in Larnaka. The 17-year old qualifiers, who entered main draw as lucky losers, claimed the pool win on Friday with their third straight win.“We couldn’t be happier”, Maixnerova said after their hard fought 2-0 win (24-22, 24-22) over Italy’s Chiara They and Reka Orsi Toth. “We started in qualification, so our goal was to be in main draw. That almost didn’t happen, but we were very lucky. And now we are taking this second chance to the limit.”After two straight wins over Cyprus and Mexico on Thursday, the Czech girls had to dig deep against They and Orsi Toth. The Italians kept coming back and seemed to handle the heat a lot better. They and Orsi Toth had several opportunities to enforce a tiebreak, but could not score the decider. In the end the Czech girls claimed the victory on their first match point. “Our strategy”, said Stochlova, asked about the key to winning this tight match. “We were preparing for this match yesterday and our coach made a really good strategy. We knew if we executed this plan it would work for us.”Stochlova, who won bronze at the U20 European Championships last year with a different partner, …

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