Knockout Stage Delivers Thrillers as Semifinalists Emerge in Benešov

The second day of the MEVZA Beach Volleyball Senior Championship 2026 in Benešov brought the start of the knockout phase, with teams battling through the Round of 12 and quarterfinals in both the women’s and men’s tournaments. While some semifinal spots are already confirmed, a few evening quarterfinals on the men’s side were still ongoing at the time of writing.

In the women’s competition, the semifinals are now officially set. Czech pair Cerna/Lorenzova continued their strong run with a straight-sets victory over top-seeded Kleiblova/Dvorníkova in the quarterfinals (21-17, 21-17). They will face the Slovak duo Tokosova/Terenova, who defeated Knoblochova/Petrikova 2-0 (21-19, 22-20).

The second semifinal will feature Honzovicova/Pospisilova against Hungary’s Honti-Majoros/Posztos-Szabp. The Czech team secured their place after a dramatic three-set battle against the Vasvári sisters (18-21, 22-20, 18-16), while the Hungarian duo edged Novotna/Mrkvickova in another tight encounter (20-22, 21-16, 15-13).

Earlier in the Round of 12, several matches also went the distance. Novotna/Mrkvickova came back to beat Dave/Lavie from Israel 2-1, while Kleiblova/Dvorníkova opened the elimination phase with a solid straight-sets win over Gubik/Kiss-Bertok.

On the men’s side, top-seeded Czech pair Perusic/Sedlak advanced comfortably to the semifinals after defeating Mugerli/Jevsnik from Slovenia 2-0 (21-7, 21-16). Austria’s Klemen/Holzinger also booked their semifinal place with a dominant 2-0 win over Croatian pair Devald/Repek (21-9, 21-14).

One of the standout performances of the day came from Devald/Repek earlier in the Round of 12, where the Croatian duo eliminated Olash/Ghazal from Hungary in three sets (21-19, 13-21, 15-9) to reach the quarterfinals.

The remaining men’s quarterfinals between Renko/Prevorcnik and Hilbert/Weber, as well as Olsansky/Brnak against Bercik/Bercik, were still in progress late on Friday evening.

The tournament in Benešov now heads into its decisive final day, with semifinal matches scheduled for Sunday morning and the fight for the MEVZA 2026 titles entering its final stage.