Elite16 - Rio de Janeiro, BRA - 2025

Carol wins Rio gold again, this time with Rebecca

Thamela & Victoria fall in all-Brazilian final to settle for silver, Cannon & Kraft snatch bronze

Published 11:00, 28 Sept 2025

Carol/Rebecca (BRA) vs. Thamela/Victoria (BRA) - Final 1st Place #64195118

Carol & Rebecca celebrating the Rio Elite victory

Almost the same line-up of players that made last year’s Rio de Janeiro Elite16 women’s podium picked up this year’s Rio de Janeiro Elite medals in Brazil, but in a slightly different order. Last year, Brazil’s Carol Solberg won gold with Barbara Seixas. This year, she defended her crown with Rebecca Cavalcanti. Seeded 11^th in the main draw, Carol & Rebecca picked up their second gold and third medal on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour together.

· Watch Rio de Janeiro Elite replays on VBTV

The silver went to Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, who took the bronze in 2024. For the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking, it was the seventh medal on the Beach Pro Tour.

Last week’s Joao Pessoa Elite runners-up and last year’s Rio Elite16 silver medalists Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft of the United States, seeded eighth in the main draw, settled for bronze, also to collect the team’s seventh medal on the Tour.

Carol/Rebecca (BRA) vs. Thamela/Victoria (BRA) - Final 1st Place #64197944

The 2025 Rio de Janeiro Elite women's podium

In the first set of the all-Brazilian final between the world’s two highest ranked duos, Carol & Rebecca wiped out an early five-point deficit, but Thamela & Victoria broke away and never looked back. A block-out shot by Thamela closed the set at a three-point margin to put her side in the lead. The second set went the opposite way. Thamela & Victoria came back from six points behind and finally caught up at 18-18, only to let Carol & Rebecca take the next three points and end the set on a one-handed kill block by Carol. The tie-breaker unfolded in a similar manner. After trailing by four points, Thamela & Victoria leveled the score at 9-9, but then it was all about their opponents, who broke away again to celebrate a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-11) victory, with Carol swinging for the match winner. Rebecca and Victoria shared the top scorer honors of the match with 25 points each. Rebecca’s tally featured three aces. Her partner Carol contributed five kill blocks, an ace and 15 spike kills to finish with 21 points. On the other side of the net, Thamela put away 16 points.

Carol/Rebecca vs. Thamela/Victoria - Match Highlights, 09/28/2025

The bronze medal match offered a remake of last week’s all-American final of the Joao Pessoa Elite in Brazil. This time, Cannon & Kraft got back at ninth-seeded Molly Shaw & Kelly Cheng and won the match in straight sets, 2-0 (21-13, 24-22). Cannon impressed with five kill blocks and two aces to top the match charts with a total of 18 points, one more than her teammate Kraft, whose 17 points all came in swings. Cheng led her team with 16 points, including three blocks.

In the first semifinal earlier on Sunday, Thamela & Victoria battled it out for a three-set victory over Shaw & Cheng. Thamela contributed a match-high 23 points, including four blocks and an ace, towards the 2-1 (21-14, 20-22, 15-13) Brazilian victory. Victoria’s 22-point tally featured one ace as well.

In the second, Carol & Rebecca coped with Cannon & Kraft’s resistance in straight sets, although the second one was pushed deep into overtime, 2-0 (21-15, 25-23). Carol put up four kill blocks and fired an ace towards an 18-point tally. Rebecca signed off with 17 points, including two aces. Cannon was the best scorer of that game with 19 points.