Elite16 - Cape Town, RSA - 2025

Muller & Tillmann conquer women’s crown at Cape Town Elite

Stam & Schoon settle for silver, Ittlinger & Grune take bronze

Published 05:28, 26 Oct 2025

Tina/Anastasija (LAT) vs. Müller/Tillmann (GER) - Semifinals #69363809

Germany’s Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann triumphed on top of the women’s podium at the Cape Town Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after winning all six of their matches and dropping only a set along the way. The gold they claimed in South Africa was the pair’s third on the Tour. Their collection also features three silvers and two bronzes.

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Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands, who started their Cape Town campaign as leaders of the qualification bracket, made it all the way to the final and picked up silver. For the two-time Olympians, it was the 10^th Beach Pro Tour medal.

Seventh-seeded Sandra Ittlinger & Anna-Lena Grune of Germany claimed the bronze, their first Beach Pro Tour medal since they teamed up for the start of this season. It was also the first Elite-level podium for either of the two players. In fact, all of 23-year-old Grune’s previous four medals on the Tour came from Futures tournaments.

The 2025 Cape Town Elite women's podium

In the first set of the gold medal showdown, 17^th-seeded Stam & Schoon never managed to take the lead. Third-seeded Muller & Tillmann stayed in control to take the set by a four-point margin. The second set was a real thriller. First, the Germans kept up a slight lead, then the Dutch took over and opened up a four-point gap at 17-13. Muller & Tillmann battled back to catch up and even reached match point at 20-19. Stam & Schoon denied it and regained the lead, but wasted three set points to level the match, before the Germans finished the job with three points in a row for 2-0 (21-17, 25-23). Tillmann hammered three aces and emerged as the best scorer of the match with 19 points. Muller chipped in with another 15, including one ace. Schoon scored 11 times, including twice from the serving line, while Stam delivered the only kill block of the match and finished with 10 points.

Fifth-seeded Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia were well in control of the first set of the third place game against Ittlinger & Grune to take the lead. The German duo, however, fought back to celebrate a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-9) turnaround and a spot on the podium. Ittlinger was the best scorer of the bronze medal match. With four kill blocks, one ace and 17 successful swings under her belt, she topped the charts with a total of 22 points. Producing three aces towards the victory, Grune finished with a total of 18 points. Tina led the Latvian side with 15 points, including three blocks. She also fired three aces and so did Anastasija towards a 14-point tally.

Muller & Tillmann swept the first women’s semifinal earlier on Sunday. They put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) shutout of Tina & Anastasija with a match-high 19 points from Tillmann. Muller added 14 points towards the victory, while Anastasija led the Latvian team with 13.

Stam & Schoon also dominated their semifinal against Ittlinger & Grune and achieved a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) victory. Stam raised four kill blocks and registered one ace to top the match charts with a total of 19 points. Schoon added another 16 points, including three aces. Grune was the German duo’s leading scorer with 15 points to her name.