All gold medals and some of the silver and the bronze medals at last week’s WEVZA and EEVZA age-group beach volleyball championships were claimed by representatives of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment assisted federations: the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine.
WEVZA U20 Beach Volleyball Championships in Lorca (Spain)
Dutch teams Nigella Negenman & Esmee Radstake and Tom Sonneville & Bram van Der Wel triumphed with the women’s and the men’s trophies, respectively, at the WEVZA U20 Beach Volleyball Championships in Lorca, Spain. Germany’s Sophia Neuss & Clara Dressen and Belgium’s Lotte De Clercq & Lola Bombeke completed the women’s podium, while two Italian teams – Matteo Lurisci & Gabriel Marini Da Costa and Andrea Sanguanini & Matteo Marchesan – took silver and bronze in the men’s tournament.
The Netherlands Volleyball Federation (NEVOBO) has so far been granted a total of USD 217,600 in national beach volleyball teams coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their men’s pairs are trained by coach Michiel van der Kuip, a 1995 European champion as a player, and his staff, while their women’s pairs work under the guidance of Cypriot coach Antreas Savvidis and Nina Lintel Hekkert.
Nigella Negenman & Esmee Radstake brought home the women’s gold after a 2-1 (15-21, 21-18, 15-10) comeback victory over Germany’s Sophia Neuss & Clara Dressen. Belgium’s Lotte De Clercq & Lola Bombeke also won the third-place match in three sets – 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 24-22) after an epic tie-breaker against Italy’s Carola Tesoro & Asia Aliotta.
In the semifinals, the Dutch pair produced a 2-0 (23-21, 21-12) win over Tesoro & Aliotta, while Neuss & Dressen beat De Clercq & Bombeke by 2-0 (21-18, 21-14).
Women’s results and standings
Tom Sonneville & Bram van Der Wel celebrated a 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-10) victory over Italy’s Matteo Lurisci & Gabriel Marini Da Costa in the men’s gold medal showdown. Andrea Sanguanini & Matteo Marchesan made sure a second Italian team gets on the podium with a 2-0 (21-9, 21-16) sweep of the third-place match against Switzerland’s Daniel Allemann & Livio Friedli.
Sonneville & Van Der Wel went through the entire tournament undefeated. In the semis, they achieved a hard-fought 2-1 (25-23, 14-21, 15-10) win over Allemann & Friedli. Iurisci & Marini Da Costa took out Sanguanini & Marchesan by 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-7) in the all-Italian semifinal.
Men’s results and standings
13 women’s and 12 men’s teams from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland took part in the WEVZA U20 Beach Volleyball Championships in Lorca.
EEVZA U18 and U16 Beach Volleyball Championships in Cesis (Latvia)
Monika Mamaja & Alise Aleksane and Milana Tina Aleksejeva & Karlina Berzina of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Latvia won the zonal titles for U18 and U16 women, respectively, at the EEVZA U18 and U16 Beach Volleyball Championships at home in Cesis. Also with support from the program, Estonia’s Armin Kender & Patrik Parijogi and Lithuania’s Tautvydas Galubickas & Rokas Lukosevicius picked up the respective men’s crowns. Another five medals went to teams from the three Baltic countries and from Empowerment-funded Ukraine.
The Volleyball Federation of Latvia has so far been funded with a total of USD 210,000 in coach support for their national teams in beach volleyball from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, in addition to USD 5,500 in beach volleyball equipment. Their youth duos are working under the guidance of Aleksandrs Solovejs, Sandris Andrejevs and Inga Koklaca. The Estonian Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has so far been allocated a total of USD 168,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national teams, currently working under the supervision of Estonian Olympian Rivo Vesik. Estonia’s beach volleyball has also received USD 11,500 in beach volleyball equipment from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. The Lithuanian Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has so far been granted a total of USD 477,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national duos, and another USD 12,000 for national team coaches development knowledge transfer programs. Their men’s pairs have been training under the guidance of distinguished Latvian instructor Aigars Birzulis. The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment program has been supporting the Ukraine Volleyball Federation in continuing its volleyball and beach volleyball activities since 2022 as part of an ongoing Memorandum of Understanding, which has so far provided total funding of USD 670,000.
Home favorites Monika Mamaja & Alise Aleksane won all six of their matches in the U18 women’s tournament. In the semifinals, they produced a 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) win over Poland’s Emilia Skwierczynska & Aleksandra Wolny, and in the final (pictured in the main photo; credits: Arturs Stiebrins / eevza.eu), they mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) victory over Estonia’s Marta-Mia Ploomipuu & Hannemai Hanimagi.
After losing by 2-1 (21-16, 12-21, 15-12) to Ploomipuu & Hanimagi in their semifinal, Ukraine’s Kateryna Nitsenko & Viktoriia Kachyoni bounced back with a 2-0 (21-15, 26-24) win over Skwierczynska & Wolny for the bronze.
U18 women’s results and standings
Estonia’s Armin Kender & Patrik Parijogi also went through the U18 men’s tournament unbeaten to earn the zonal title. In the semis, they delivered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) victory over Poland’s Igor Gliszczynski & Alan Robak, and in the final, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) sweep against Latvia’s Tomass Silavs & Bruno Liepins.
Silavs & Liepins secured their spot on the podium with a nail-biting 2-1 (17-21, 23-21, 16-14) semifinal victory over Ukraine’s Yehor Skrypnychenko & Andrii Lunkan, who then secured theirs with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) shutout of Gliszczynski & Robak in the bronze medal game.
U18 men’s results and standings
16 women’s and 16 men’s teams from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine competed at the EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships in Cesis.
In the U16 women’s final, Latvia’s Milana Tina Aleksejeva & Karlina Berzina came back from a set down to celebrate a narrow 2-1 (18-21, 21-16, 17-15) victory over Ukraine’s Diana Avramenko & Vira Hudz. Natalia Lewandowska & Hanna Lesniewicz of Poland took the bronze after a 2-1 (21-17, 17-21, 15-9) win over Latvia’s Anna Kovalova & Marija Darta Jaundzeikare in the third-place game.
Aleksejeva & Berzina took a 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-12) semifinal win over Lewandowska & Lesniewicz, while Avramenko & Hudz beat Kovalova & Jaundzeikare by a tight 2-0 (24-22, 21-18) in the other semifinal.
U16 women’s results and standings
Lithuania’s Tautvydas Galubickas & Rokas Lukosevicius triumphed in the men’s U16 competition. They managed a 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) sweep of the gold medal match against Poland’s Wojciech Witkowski & Antoni Czarnecki. The bronze went to another Polish duo, Hubert Ziajka & Karol Lunio, who claimed a 2-0 (21-14, 22-20) win over Estonia’s Martin Heinlaid & Jan Erik Praks in the third-place match.
Galubickas & Lukosevicius also swept their semifinal game – 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) against Heinland & Praks. A three-set battle unfolded in the all-Polish semifinal, which eventually went 2-1 (21-19, 12-21, 15-11) Witkowski & Czarnecki’s way.
U16 men’s results and standings
15 women’s and 12 men’s teams from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine participated in the EEVZA U16 Beach Volleyball Championships in Cesis.
