Verena & Thainara and Yan & Xia in Nayarit Challenge gold medal showdown

Three-set semifinal battles on Saturday propelled Brazil’s Verena Figueira & Thainara Feitosa and China’s Yan Xu & Xia Xinyi to Sunday’s women’s final at the Nayarit Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. For each of the two pairs, it will be the first final at their third appearance on the Beach Pro Tour as such. The bronze medal playoff in Mexico will set Madelyne Anderson & Alaina Chacon of the United States against top-seeded Melanie Paul & Lea Kunst of Germany.

• Watch the Nayarit Challenge on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

Third-seeded Verena & Thainara extended their winning streak in Nayarit to five wins in five matches. In the semifinals, the Brazilian team produced a 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-11) victory over 16^th-seeded Americans Anderson & Chacon. Thainara and Anderson shared the top scorer honors with 23 points each. Before that, Verena & Thainara mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) quarterfinal shutout of Germany’s Mareet Maidhof & Tabea Schwarz.

Fourth-seeded Yan & Xia also made it five in five in Nayarit. The Chinese pair started its day with an emphatic 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) sweep of their quarterfinal against Spain’s Ana Vergara & Sofia Gonzalez. In the semis, Yan & Xia dropped their first set of the tournament, but still celebrated a 2-1 (21-16, 20-22, 15-11) upset of bracket leaders Paul & Kunst. 21-year-old Yan was the best scorer of that three-setter with 26 points, including four kill blocks and an ace.

To get to the last four and eventually to the bronze medal game, Anderson & Chacon hammered out a 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) upset of second-seeded Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami of Japan, while Paul & Kunst outplayed Poland’s Natalia Okla & Urszula Lunio by 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) with as many as seven aces from Paul in another quarterfinal.

The third-place playoff on Sunday will get underway at 12:00 local time (18:00 UTC), while the gold medal showdown is set to serve off at 13:00 (19:00).

Beach Pro Tour Nayarit Challenge: schedule and results

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