Fresh from establishing partnership, Spain’s Moreno/Izuzquiza reach EuroBeachVolley semis

Sofia Izuzquiza and Tania Moreno Matveeva teamed up earlier this year and while they compete at EuroBeachVolley for the very first time as a combo, they have already left their mark on the competition. On Friday, the two Spaniards reached the semis in Stare Jablonki after a truly impressive 2-0 victory (21-16, 21-14) in their quarterfinal game with Paris 2024 Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte of Lithuania.  

That is certainly not a ‘minor’ achievement for two players who have been competing together for a few months only – even though their debut on home soil this past May was already quite promising. They indeed secured the gold medal at the Beach Pro Tour Futures annually held in Madrid before repeating the feat at a Challenge event in Alanya, Türkiye, and more recently they finished fifth at the Elite 16 in Rio de Janeiro.

Therefore, their run in Stare Jablonki does not come as a total surprise. “We started playing together earlier this year as we could see a real opportunity to represent Spain internationally with pride and a good perspective,” Moreno Matveeva said. “I would like to thank the crowd for their continued support this far here in Stare Jablonki – they have been amazing and their encouragement means a lot to us.” 

24-year-old Matveeva is a former EuroBeachVolley silver medallist from the 2023 edition. She continues the family tradition in the sport and is closely followed and supported by her father – who is on the ground in Stare Jablonki – and her mother. “I know they are both very proud of me – especially as they see that I have been able to achieve results that they could not quite secure when my father was coaching my mom. Now that we are in the semis, we are not going to lower our expectations. We are among the top four teams in Europe, which is crazy, if you think that we have been playing together for a few months only, but we continue to work hard and to dream big.” 

The only 20-year-old Izuzquiza has achieved success in age-group competitions, including U18 European gold in 2023 in Madrid – and yet this is an event of a totally different calibre and magnitude. “It feels unreal to be playing in such a stadium, in a place where even a World Championship has taken place, against some of the top players in Europe – the very same players I am and have been looking up to,” she acknowledges. 

Moreno Matveeva admits that it would be nice to play such an event on home soil one day, especially knowing that Spain is back on the international map with Las Palmas due to co-host the 2028 edition of the CEV EuroVolley Women. 

Their next opponents in the semis will be reigning World champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia who looked truly dominant (21-18, 21-13) in their quarterfinal matchup with last year’s gold medallist Tetiana Lazarenko and new partner Sofiia Kurnikova of Ukraine – much to the delight of a large contingent of passionate and raucous Latvian fans. 

Other teams qualified for the women’s semis include Dutchwomen Raïsa Schoon and Katja Stam, who looked in full control (21-13, 21-9) in their quarterfinal matchup with former U18 and U22 European champions Anna and Katerina Pavelkova of Czechia. Last year’s silver medal winners Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau of France edged Switzerland’s former European champions Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner in three sets (21-17, 17-21, 15-10). 

In the men’s competition, the quarterfinals are set. The three teams responsible for a historic European clean sweep of the podium at last year’s World Championships are all still in contention. Olympic and World champions David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden were expected to face a much tougher opposition from 2024 EuroBeachVolley winners Kristians Fokerots and Martins Plavins of Latvia (21-18, 21-9).
“We know that they are a great team and they could have come back at any time – so we had to stay focussed until the very end,” Åhman said in the post-match interview after a one-sided second set.

The Swedes as well as the Latvians were cheered on by a large group of fans having made their way to Stare Jablonki to support their idols. The next opponent for Ahman/Hellvig will be France’s Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Ayé. Last year’s World Championships silver medal winners Jacob Hölting Nilsson/Elmer Andersson of Sweden have reached the quarterfinals as well where they are due to play Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Yves Haussener. Five-time EuroBeachVolley winners Anders Mol/Christian Sørum of Norway – chasing an unprecedented sixth continental title – will next play Dutchmen Steven van de Velde and Yorick de Groot, whereas Téo Rotar/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, bronze medal winners at the Adelaide Worlds last year, are due to take on Austrian sensation Philipp Waller and Moritz Pristauz.