Italians take silver in Battipaglia
Futures in Europe
After winning gold in Cervia last Sunday, Italian teams had to settle for silver at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event in their home sand, leading a European effort that generated four medals in Battipaglia.
Marco Viscovich/Gianluca Dal Corso and Reka Orsi Toth/Giada Bianchi were the teams that advanced all way the way to the gold medal matches at the beachfront Lido Spineta, and were joined by a third Italian duo and a German tandem at the podium.
The Cervia Futures winners, Viscovich and Dal Corso made it to the final for a second-straight week, but unlike the previous occasion, this time they finished second, falling to Americans Hagen Smith and Logan Webber in the two-set (21-18, 21-15) gold medal match in Battipaglia, earning their fourth medal in 11 international tournaments.
The bronze medals of the event went to Germans Maximilian Just and Jonas Sagstetter, who downed Italians Davide Benzi and Carlo Bonifazi in the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-14, 15-11) to make it to the podium in their first event as partners.
Beach Pro Tour Battipaglia Futures
In the women’s final, Paraguayans Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti were the ones playing for gold for a second-straight week and this time they took it, overcoming Orsi Toth and Bianchi in two sets (24-22, 21-12). The Italians won their third medal and second silver in just five events together.
Bronze among the women also stayed in the home country as Maria Mancinelli and Aurora Mattavelli upset Tokyo Olympian Julia Sude and new German partner Lea Kunst to prevail 2-0 (21-19, 21-7) and make their second podium appearance in five events.
Next week, the Beach Pro Tour Futures in Europe will move North to neighboring Switzerland, with the city of Spiez hosting a double-gender event for a second straight season.
The Beach Pro Tour Futures events in Europe are run by the CEV in close cooperation with Volleyball World and provide teams from the continent with several opportunities to compete and gain valuable international ranking points.