Monika Brzostek

Monika Brzostek
Monika Brzostek (right) with Kinga Kołosińska at the 2016 Olympic Games
portrait
birthday	July 28, 1989
place of birth	Rybnik, Poland
size	1.73 m
Partner	2006–2007 Weronika Kurek 2007–2010 Karolina Sowała since 2009 Kinga Kołosińska
World ranking	Position 20
successes
2008 - 3rd place U21 World Cup 2009 - U21 World Champion 2011 - Vice European Champion U23 2012–2015 - Polish Champion 2013 - Silver medal Universiade 2015 - Third place in the European Championship 2015 - 3rd place Grand Slam Olsztyn 2016 - 2nd place Grand Slam Rio 2016 - Olympic ninth
(As of August 30, 2016)

Monika Brzostek (born July 28, 1989 in Rybnik ) is a Polish beach volleyball player . In youth competitions she became world champion and vice-European champion. In 2015 she reached third place at the European Championships and in 2016 she took part in the Olympic Games. She also won the Polish championship four times in a row.

Career

Brzostek played her first open tournaments on the FIVB World Tour in Warsaw in 2006 with Weronika Kurek and in 2007 with Natalia Krawulska . Brzostek / Kurek finished fourth at the 2007 U19 World Cup in Mysłowice . In the same year she finished ninth with Karolina Sowała at the U21 World Cup in Modena . After three open tournaments at the World Tour 2008, in which Brzostek / Sowała reached 25th place twice, they came third at the U21 World Cup in Brighton . They finished four other open tournaments in 17th place each. In 2009 they played three Masters and finished ninth in Baden , among others . In the following three Grand Slams, they improved from tournament to tournament up to 17th place in Marseille . In Jantarny they reached 13th place in the U23 European Championship. After she finished ninth in the Masters in Blackpool with Sowała , she won the U21 World Cup a week later with Kinga Kołosińska in the same place . On the World Tour 2010 Brzostek / Sowała did not achieve a top placement. At the EM in Berlin they were eliminated after the preliminary round without winning a set. Then they reached the fifth place at the U23 European Championships in Kos . At the end of the year they played their last joint open tournaments in Sanya and Phuket .

Brzostek has formed a permanent duo with Kinga Kołosińska since 2011 . On the World Tour 2011 Kołosińska / Brzostek did not get past 25th place before they finished fifth at the Niechorze Masters. At the U23 European Championship in Porto , they only had to admit defeat in the final. At the European Championships in Kristiansand they reached the first main round as third in the group, in which they were defeated by the Germans Köhler / Sude in the tie-break. In the 2012 season they finished ninth in the Baden Masters. As the worst of three teams with equal points, they were eliminated from the European Championship 2012 in Scheveningen after the preliminary round. They finished fourth at the U23 European Championships in Assen . Then they reached the final of the Masters in Varna . They also won the national championship for the first time.

Kołosińska / Brzostek started the World Tour 2013 with two 17th places in Fuzhou and Shanghai . They later finished seventh in the Baden Masters and fifth in the satellite tournament in Montpellier . At the World Cup in Stare Jabłonki they won all preliminary round matches and the first knockout round against the Dutch Bloem / Kadijk , before they were defeated by the Italians Cicolari / Menegatti in the round of 16 . They then reached the final against the Russians Ukolowa / Birlowa at the Universiade in Kazan and won the silver medal. They took ninth place at the Anapa Open. At the European Championships in Klagenfurt , they met Ukolowa / Birlowa again as third in the group and had to admit defeat in the tie-break. Nationally they successfully defended their title as Polish champions. They achieved top ten results in the 2014 season as fifth in the Prague Open, seventh in the Baden Masters, fifth in the Grand Slam in Moscow , ninth in The Hague and Stare Jabłonki, and fourth in the CEV Masters in Biel / Bienne and Baku . At the European Championships in Quartu Sant'Elena they lost the first knockout game against Menegatti / Orsi Toth after finishing third in the preliminary round . Nationally they won their third title in a row.

At the major tournaments in Poreč and Stavanger , Kołosińska / Brzostek achieved ninth place on the 2015 World Tour . At the World Cup in the Netherlands , they stayed in the preliminary round without losing a set, but then lost their first knockout game against the US duo Fendrick / Sweat in the tiebreaker. They finished the Gstaad Major in ninth place. At the European Championships in Klagenfurt , they won all group games as well as their games in the last sixteen and quarter finals. After the semi-final defeat against Ukolowa / Birlowa they prevailed in the game for third place against the Slovaks Dubovcová / Nestarcová . They finished ninth in Long Beach and third in the Grand Slam in Olsztyn , winning their first medal at a World Tour tournament. They won the Polish championship for the fourth time. In early 2016 , after finishing ninth in Maceió , they reached the final of the Grand Slam in Rio de Janeiro , which they lost to Walsh / Ross . In Sochi they were ninth and Moscow fifth. At the European Championships in Biel / Bienne Kołosińska suffered from back pain , which is why she could not play a game with Brzostek. After two 17th places in Olsztyn and Gstaad, Kołosińska / Brzostek were major ninth in Klagenfurt . They qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio via the Olympic rankings . There they reached the second round in the group, in which they were defeated by the Australians Bawden / Clancy after three sets. So they finished the Olympic tournament in ninth place. They then achieved this result at the Grand Slam in Long Beach .

Web links

• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Website of the Kołosińska / Brzostek duo (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIVB world rankings
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} website of the Kołosińska / Brzostek duo ( memento of the original from September 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Polish)  
3. ↑ Kinga's kinks working out. FIVB , June 15, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016 .