Sofia Izuzquiza, a silver medalist of last year’s FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championship, now rejoiced with her first medal on the Beach Pro Tour. The Spanish teen and her namesake Sofia Gonzalez, who had one gold from three years ago, earned their second Tour podium together, after the Krakow Futures bronze last month. In Montpellier, the third-seeded Spanish pair managed to string up four straight-set victories on the way to the final, where they dropped their first set of the tournament, but beat top-seeded home favorites Elsa Descamps & Anouk Dupin by 2-1 (21-17, 14-21, 15-9).
In the semifinals, Izuzquiza & Gonzalez put together a 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) victory over USA’s Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig, while Descamps & Dupin beat fourth-seeded Czechs Martina Maixnerova & Kylie Neuschaeferova by 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) and guaranteed themselves their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a team. Meanwhile, Dupin has extended her incredible season. She has now made the podiums at all five of her appearances on the Tour since the start of the year, collecting two golds, two silvers and one bronze, and she has achieved that with four different partners.
21-year-old Americans Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Maixnerova & Neuschaeferova in the third-place match and have now picked up two medals out of two Beach Pro Tour participations. At their rookie appearance in Geneva last week, they triumphed as gold medalists. In Montpellier, they started from the qualifications again and extended their winning streak to 12 games in a row, before Izuzquiza & Gonzalez put an end to it in the semis.