Slovakia’s Andrea Strbova and Natalia Dubovcova have guaranteed themselves a place in tomorrow’s elimination bracket at the FIVB Beach World Tour event in The Hague ©FIVB

Slovakia’s Andrea Strbova and Natalia Dubovcova guaranteed themselves a place in tomorrow’s elimination bracket at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour event in The Hague after claiming a surprise three-set victory over second-seeded Germans Chantel Laboureur and Julia Sude. 

It took the 31st seeds 48 minutes to seal a 21-19, 19-21, 15-10 triumph in the Pool B encounter at the Dutch city's Sportcampus Zuiderpark.

Strbova and Dubovcova gained entry to the main draw by winning two qualifying matches over higher-seeded teams yesterday.

Their victories came at the expense of the United States’ Lane Carico and Caitlin Ledoux and Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo and Angela Lobato.

Twenty-one-year-old Strbova is playing in her first-ever FIVB World Tour event and only her third in all, with her two previous tournaments being on the Slovakian national tour.

"Andrea was a bit nervous this morning," said Dubovcova, who netted three FIVB World Tour bronze medals with former partner Dominika Nestarcova.

"I told her before the match just to believe in it, we can do it.

"Don't think about the pressure.

"Just play the best we can.

Czech Republic's Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner are continuing to make their mark on the men's competition ©FIVB
Czech Republic's Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner are continuing to make their mark on the men's competition ©FIVB

"I think we already reached our goal, which was to qualify for the main draw.

"This is like a dream to defeat the second-seeded Germans in our first main-draw match."

Strbova and Dubovcova would have secured top spot in Pool B and first-round bye had they beaten 15th-seeded qualifiers Maria Antonelli and Carolina Salgado of Brazil later in the day, but they fell to a 16-21, 10-21 defeat.

Antonelli and Salgado, who also came through qualification to reach the main draw, opened play today with a 21-17, 20-22, 15-11 win over Finland’s Taru Lahti and Anniina Parkkinen.

There was also a big upset in the men’s draw as Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner beat fifth-seeded Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes and Pedro Solberg of Brazil, 21-17, 19-21, 15-12.

Perusic and Schweiner will next face 12th-seeds Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst of Austria with the winner of tomorrow's match finishing first in Pool E and advancing to the elimination bracket with a first-round bye.

It will be the first FIVB match between the two teams.

Doppler and Horst, who were the only team to defeat eventual champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil during pool play at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, posted a 21-17, 21-18 win over Poland’s Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz today.