With the Swiss blocker sidelined due to a slipped disc, Anouk will play with her sister Zoé in the European Championships

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Joana and Anouk had their run in the Gstaad Major cut short by the injury

One of the strongest women’s beach volleyball teams in the world will not be seen again in the 2018 Beach Major Series as Swiss star Joana Heidrich is set to miss the remainder of the season due to a slipped disc.

Swiss Volley

Joana Heidrich has to undergo surgery for a spinal disc hernation and will be out of competition for about 3 months. 😥 For the European Championships this week in The Netherlands, Anouk Vergé-Dépré...

The injury compromised her participation in last week’s Swatch Major Gstaad, as her and partner Anouk Vergé-Dépré crashed out in their Round of 24 match against the Netherlands’ Joy Stubbe and Marleen van Iersel.

The 26-year-old blocker is not expected to return to the courts in 2018 and Anouk will be looking for a new partner for the A1 Major Vienna from August 1-5. The first tournament Joana will miss, however, will be the 2018 edition of the European Championships, which started on Sunday. For that event, Anouk will team up with her 20-year-old sister Zoé Vergé-Dépré, with whom she’s expected to return to her original blocking role.

Wonderful day with my lovely sister #goodtalks

303 Likes, 5 Comments - Zoé Sarah Vergé-Dépré (@zoe.vergedepre) on Instagram: "Wonderful day with my lovely sister #goodtalks"

Zoé, who normally plays with Esmée Böbner, has competed in three World Tour events and her best result was a ninth-place finish in Anapa, Russia, in the first week of July. The duo also played in the World University Beach Volleyball Championships last weekend, where they finished fourth.