Lithuania had a lot to celebrate on the opening day of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge as the country saw two of their four women’s teams entered in the tournament’s qualifier succeed on Tuesday and secure spots in the main draw, being the only nation to have multiple teams advancing.

The action continues in Austria on Wednesday, when the men will get on the court for the first time at the Thermalstrandbad Baden. The second day of matches includes the men’s qualifier and the first main draw encounters for the women.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge live on VBTV

Fresh from a ninth-place finish at the European Championship last week, Daniele Kvedaraite and Jekaterina Kovalskaja won a pair of matches in Baden on Tuesday to overcome the qualifier of a Challenge event for the fourth-straight time in 2025.

The Lithuanians started their campaign with a three-set (21-16, 18-21, 15-7) victory over the home team of Astrid Bauer and Sophie Haselsteiner and followed up on it with a sweep (21-19, 21-16) of Slovenians Tjasa Kotnik and Maja Marolt.

The first team to represent Lithuania at the Olympics, Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte also had a positive first day in Baden, getting a pair of wins and ending a streak of ten consecutive losses on the Beach Pro Tour in 2025.

The Paris Olympians needed all three sets (21-15, 15-21, 15-7) to overcome Italians Aurora Mattavelli and Margherita Tega in the first round of the qualifier and then got the job done in two (21-15, 21-18) against Hungarians Stefánia Flóra Kun and Lilla Villám in the match that confirmed their presences in the main draw.

Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite made it to the second round of the qualifier in Austria, but fell to Finland’s Anniina Parkkinen and Valma Vilhelmiina Prihti in straight sets (21-11, 21-18) and were eliminated. In the first round, they topped their compatriots Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Erika Kliokmanaite in the tie-breaker (24-22, 17-21, 15-13).

The other five teams qualified were Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser/Menia Bentele, Ukraine’s Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno, Spain’s Ana Vergara/Sofía González, Australia’s Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes and Poland’s Natalia Okla/Julia Kielak.

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Match Schedule and Results

The first round of pool play matches will be held on Wednesday. Thursday’s schedule for the women includes the second-round pool play matches and the Round of 24. The Round of 16 and quarterfinals will take place on Friday, with the semifinals and medal matches ending the event on Saturday.

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