Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli & Leona Kernen will take on Italy’s Valentina Gottardi & Claudia Scampoli in Sunday’s women’s final at the Yucatan Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. An all-American clash for the bronze shaped up in Puerto Progreso, with Teegan Van Gunst & Kimberly Hildreth locking horns with qualifiers Devon Newberry & Jaden Whitmarsh to complete the podium.

• Watch the Yucatan Challenge on VBTV.

On Saturday, 11^th-seeded Gottardi & Scampoli started out by defeating sixth-seeded Toni Rodriguez & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg of the United States in a 2-0 (29-27, 21-16) quarterfinal. Scampoli led the Italian team with four aces towards a 24-point match high, while Gottardi put up five kill blocks to finish with 18 points.

In their semifinal, Gottardi & Scampoli put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) shutout of Newberry & Whitmarsh, seeded 31^st in the 32-team main draw, who had managed a 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 16-14) quarterfinal comeback against Ukraine’s Maryna Hladun & Tetiana Lazarenko earlier in the day. Gottardi raised another five kill blocks and fired an ace against the Americans to finish with 13 points, while Scampoli produced a match-high 16 points, all in attack. Newberry, on the other hand, led the way against the Ukrainians with an impressive total of 27 points, including three aces and three blocks.

Ninth-seeded Huberli & Kernen were leading by 17-12 in the first set of their quarterfinal against second-seeded Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno of Spain, when the match was interrupted by an injury withdrawal from the Spaniards.

In another quarterfinal, 12^th-seeded Van Gunst & Hildreth came back from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (14-21, 21-19, 15-10) upset of third-seeded Austrians Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger. Van Gunst chipped in with five kill blocks and an ace to finish with 18 points, while Ronja Klinger was the best scorer of the match with 19 points.

Huberli & Kernen then mastered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) sweep of the semifinal against Van Gunst & Hildreth. 19-year-old Kernen was on fire both from the serving line with five aces and in attack with 17 spike kills, while Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Huberli raised three kill blocks and scored an ace to finish with 12 points.

Sunday’s gold medal showdown between Huberli & Kernen and Gottardi & Scampoli starts at 13:00 local time (19:00 UTC). The all-American bronze medal game serves off at 12:00 (18:00).

VW Beach Pro Tour Yucatan Challenge: schedule and results

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