Challenge - Alanya, TUR - 2026

Spain’s Izuzquiza & Tania cruise to first Challenge gold in Alanya

USA’s Savvy & Newberry take silver, Switzerland’s Mader & Kernen settle for bronze in Turkiye

Published 09:12, 14 Jun 2026

Spain’s Sofia Izuzquiza & Tania Moreno

Sofia Izuzquiza & Tania Moreno celebrated their recently formed team’s first gold at the Challenge level on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. On Sunday, they topped the Alanya Challenge podium in Turkiye. Overall, it was the pair’s second medal, after the Madrid Futures gold in May.

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USA’s Savannah Cory (Savvy) & Devon Newberry, another recently shaped duo, finished runners-up in Alanya to pick up their second Beach Pro Tour medal in a row, after the bronze they took at the Brasilia Elite in May.

Two-time Olympian and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Joana Mader and Switzerland’s 20-year-old rising star Leona Kernen earned their first Beach Pro Tour hardware together, finishing third in Alanya.

The 17^th-seeded pairing of Paris 2024 Olympian Tania Moreno and 2024 U19 World Championship silver medalist Sofia Izuzquiza lost only a set during their entire campaign of six matches in Turkiye. It was in their semifinal against top-seeded Joana Mader & Leona Kernen on Saturday, in which the Spaniards came back from behind to produce a 2-1 (16-21, 21-13, 15-8) upset, with 20-year-old Izuzquiza leading the team with 19 points, including seven kill blocks and two aces. In Sunday’s final showdown, Izuzquiza & Tania hammered out a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) shutout of Savvy Cory & Devon Newberry. In just two sets, Izuzquiza raised as many as eight kill blocks towards a match-high 21 points.

The second-seeded Americans also reached the gold medal match unbeaten. They decorated their winning streak with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory over Paraguayan Olympians Giuliana Poletti Corrales & Michelle Valiente, who came into the Alanya main draw from the qualifiers.

Bracket leaders Mader & Kernen lost only two matches in the tournament, both to Izuzquiza & Tania. The Swiss bounced back from their semifinal defeat with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) sweep of the bronze medal game against Corrales & Michelle.