Beach volleyball powerhouses Brazil and the United States will fight for gold in the first Elite event of the 2025 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season on Sunday in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

The last two teams standing in the event held at Playa del Carmen, Brazil’s Carol Salgado/Rebecca Cavalcanti and USA’s Terese Cannon/Megan Kraft will duel in the gold medal match at 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT). A second American team is guaranteed to step on the podium as Kristen Nuss/Taryn Brasher and Kelly Cheng/Molly Shaw will compete in the bronze medal match one hour earlier.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite live on VBTV

Playing in just their second Beach Pro Tour event as partners (and the first at the Elite level), Carol and Rebecca have been unstoppable in Mexico over the last two days, securing four wins and dropping just one set in the period.

On Saturday, the Brazilian Olympians needed the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-13, 15-10) to eliminate the Austrian Klinger sisters Dorina and Klinger in the quarterfinals before sweeping (21-17, 21-11) the top-seeded Nuss and Brasher in the semifinals.

With the result, the two are guaranteed their first medal on the Beach Pro Tour after ranking ninth at last week’s Yucatán Challenge, their debut tournament at the international level.

“I’m so happy,” Carol said. “It’s been amazing to start this season with Rebecca and our new team. We’ve been working so hard and it’s just amazing to be in the final. We stayed together through adversity and found a way to play with this crazy wind here. I’m proud of how we handled it.”

VW Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite: Match Schedule and Results

Their opponents in the final in Mexico, Cannon and Kraft followed a similar path to the gold medal match on Saturday, starting the day with a 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-9) victory over FIVB World Ranking leaders Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann of Germany in the quarterfinals and getting a clean sweep (21-18, 21-19) against Cheng and Shaw in the semifinals a few hours later.

The Americans got a second chance in the tournament after losing to Cheng and Shaw on Friday, in the Round of 12, as they still advanced to the quarterfinals as one of the two best losing sides.

“The new format is interesting,” Kraft remarked. “We had to bounce back as quickly as we could. They’re a really good team and we knew they would give us a good game. We were happy to get a second life in the tournament and just tried to make the most of it.”

Partners since 2023, the Americans have been in great form since the 2024 season and will, in Mexico, get into the podium for a fifth-straight Elite tournament on the Beach Pro Tour. The two, however, are yet to win gold at the international level.

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