World champ Tina to hit Gstaad with teen partner

Tina goes with Anastasija, Anastasija goes with Tina – this has been a given in international beach volleyball ever since the two Latvian standouts joined forces 10 years ago. Surprisingly, at this week’s Gstaad Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, the reigning world champions and Gstaad medalists of the previous two editions will not be playing side by side. Instead, Tina Graudina will hit the sand in Switzerland with 18-year-old Liva Ebere as a partner.

• Watch the Gstaad Elite on VBTV

Beautiful Gstaad is certainly among the players’ favorite destinations on the Beach Pro Tour. The iconic venue is about to host its 25^th world-level event, having welcomed the sport’s elite every year since 2000, with pandemic-struck 2020 the only exception.

Tina & Ebere have already tested their partnership successfully as they won last week’s stop on Latvia’s domestic tour together. In the gold medal showdown, they hammered out an emphatic shutout of Tina’s usual partner Anastasija Samoilova in a mixed pairing with Spanish Olympian Daniela Alvarez. While Anastasija is skipping the Gstaad event for personal reasons, Ebere will take her place by Tina’s side, but this experimental tandem will have to start its campaign from the qualifications at noon on Wednesday. Despite her young age, Ebere had been playing on the Beach Pro Tour since 2022, but this will be her first appearance at an Elite event.

The Latvian duo will try to be one of the eight teams to qualify for the main draw and fill one of the vacancies in the pools.

Pool A will be headed by bracket leaders Kristen Cruz & Taryn Brasher. The American pair are the defending two-time back-to-back Gstaad champions. They also took bronze at the event three years ago. The Adelaide 2025 World Championship runners-up have already collected two Elite golds out of three Beach Pro Tour appearances this season – in Joao Pessoa and in Saquarema. Their compatriots Molly Shaw & Toni Rodriguez and Switzerland’s Joana Mader & Leona Kernen are the other two known teams to compete in Pool A.

Pool B will be highlighted by an all-Brazilian rivalry between Paris 2024 Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Lisboa (Duda) and the current number one team in the FIVB World Ranking – Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti. Ana Patricia & Duda won back-to-back Gstaad titles in 2022 and 2023. Duda topped the podium in 2021 as well. Carol has a couple of Gstaad silvers in her collection – from 2019 and from 2022 – while Ana Patricia & Rebecca took silver together in 2021. Piper Ferch & Teegan Van Gunst of the United States will also play in this pool.

Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada will try to get on their first Gstaad podium together. With previous partners, Melissa won gold in 2018 and bronze in 2017 and 2022, while Brandie claimed bronze in 2018. The Canadian pair reached the finals at both their previous appearances on the Beach Pro Tour this year, earning gold in Ostrava and silver in Saquarema. They will have two American duos among the opponents in Pool C – Savannah Cory & Devon Newberry and Megan Kraft & Kelly Cheng.

Pool D looks really hard to predict with three top-caliber teams in the lineup – Italy’s Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth, Brazil’s Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes and Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre, all from the top 11 of the World Ranking. While Anouk & Zoe took the Gstaad bronze last year, the other two have already medaled at Elite events this year.

USA’s Julia Donlin & Lexy Denaburg and Germany’s Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann are awaiting the company of two teams from the qualifiers in Pool E.

Pool F is highlighted by Swiss home favorites Tanja Huberli & Nina Brunner, Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalists, and Dutch standouts Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon.

Serving off at 11:00 local time (09:00 UTC) on July 1, a single round of eight women’s qualifying matches will fill the eight vacancies in the main draw, which is set to get underway in the afternoon with the first leg of pool play.

A single round robin will determine the final standings in each pool, with the pool winners, the pool runners-up and the two best-ranked third-placed teams advancing straight to the eighthfinals. The remaining four third-placed duos will set up two sixteenthfinal fixtures to determine the other two eighthfinalists. Quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches will follow on the way to Sunday’s podium in Gstaad.

Gstaad Elite: women’s entry list
Gstaad Elite: match schedule

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour
VBTV
Beach Volleyball World Facebook
Beach Volleyball World X
Beach Volleyball World Instagram
Beach Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter