New Dutch pair tops Sibiu Futures podium

A new Dutch pairing – Lisa Luini & Benthe Essink – topped the Sibiu Futures podium upon the team’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour debut. Spain’s Adriana Serrano Ferro & Marta Carro and the host nation’s Adriana-Maria Burtea & Beata Vaida took silver and bronze in Romania.

Seeded ninth in the main draw, Netherlands’ Lisa Luini & Benthe Essink cruised through the tournament undefeated, dropping only a set in five matches played. In the semifinals, they put together a 2-0 (21-13, 23-21) win over fifth-seeded Barbora Tokosova & Martina Terenova of Slovakia, and in the final, the Dutch duo celebrated a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory over third-seeded Adriana Serrano Ferro & Marta Carro of Spain. While it was 19-year-old Essink’s first-ever Beach Pro Tour podium, Luini has now collected her second gold within a total of five medals.

The Sibiu silver was the first Tour medal for Serrano & Carro as a team, and for Carro individually, while Serrano already had one silver in her medal collection. In their semifinal in Sibiu, the Spaniards battled it out for a 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-13) victory over Romania’s Adriana-Maria Burtea & Beata Vaida.

The top-seeded home favorites bounced back with a 2-0 (21-15, 22-20) sweep of the third-place match against Tokosova & Terenova to claim the bronze upon their second Beach Pro Tour appearance together. Burtea & Vaida reunited ahead of the Balikesir Futures last month for their first international tournament in eight years. At their last appearance on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour together, at the 2018 Miguel Pereira 1-Star, they triumphed on top of the podium with their first world-level medal as a duo. The Sibiu bronze was Vaida’s fourth medal on the Beach Pro Tour.

21 women’s pairs representing 13 different federations took part in the Sibiu Futures.

The next Futures stop on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Laginha Beach, Cabo Verde from July 23 to 26.

Sibiu Futures: all results

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