USA’s Van Winden & Sparks make great 2026 season even better with Geneva Futures gold

Torrey Van Winden & Lindsey Sparks have not only kept the trend of medaling at every international event they have appeared at in 2026, but also celebrated their first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold by topping the podium at the Geneva Futures in Switzerland on Sunday. Annique Niederhauser & Menia Bentele took silver in the home sand, while another American pair – Tambre Nobles & Clara Stowell – completed the podium with bronze.

Van Winden & Sparks started their international season with a NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour gold in San Jose, Costa Rica. They made their Beach Pro Tour debut as a duo at the Sveti Vlas Futures in Bulgaria with a silver medal in early June and matched that at last week’s Spiez Futures in Switzerland. In Geneva, they won all five of their matches to triumph with their first Beach Pro Tour gold. In the semifinals, second-seeded Van Winden & Sparks delivered a 2-1 (22-20, 18-21, 15-11) victory over their ninth-seeded compatriots Tambre Nobles & Clara Stowell, and in the final, they came back from a set down to disappoint the Swiss fans with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-12) upset of bracket leaders Annique Niederhauser & Menia Bentele.

Niederhauser & Bentele secured the team’s second Beach Pro Tour medal with a 2-0 (24-22, 21-10) semifinal win over eighth-seeded Eva Liisa Kuivonen & Liisa-Lotta Jurgenson to get back at the Estonians for the only loss the Swiss had suffered on the way to the final. Niederhauser & Bentele’s first medal was also silver, from last year’s Messina Futures.

Nobles & Stowell also took their revenge from the Estonian duo for the defeat in pool with a 2-1 (13-21, 22-20, 15-12) comeback victory in the bronze medal game to bring home their first Beach Pro Tour hardware.

25 women’s duos from 11 different countries took part in the Geneva Futures.

The next Futures stops on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Hangzhou, China, in Balikesir, Turkiye, in Bridlington, United Kingdom and in Geneva, Switzerland (the men tournament) from June 25 to 28.

Women’s Geneva Futures: all results

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