Italian teams triumphed on top of both the women’s and the men’s podiums at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures stop at home in Cervia. Margherita Bianchin & Claudia Scampoli won the ladies’ final against Michelle Valiente & Giuliana Poletti of Paraguay, while another Italian pair, Reka Orsi Toth & Giada Bianchi, completed the podium. Gianluca Dal Corso & Marco Viscovich snatched the men’s gold, while the silver and the bronze went to Germany’s Paul Henning & Bennet Poniewaz and France’s Calvin Aye & Quincy Aye, respectively.

Bianchin & Scampoli collected their fourth Futures gold, with all the previous three also won in Italy - Giardini Naxos 2022, Lecce 2023 and Messina 2023. They also earned silver a week earlier at the Pingtan Futures in China and had picked up two golds and a bronze at 1-star events on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The 10^th-seeded Italian pair started in Cervia with two three-set victories in the pool stage, but then cruised through the three elimination matches without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Bianchin & Scampoli produced a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) shutout of fourth-seeded Jasmine Fleming & Jana Milutinovic of Australia, and in the final, they managed a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) victory over third-seeded Michelle & Poletti.

The Paraguayan pair claimed the first-ever Beach Pro Tour medal for either of its members. Michelle & Poletti had an amazing run to the final in Cervia, winning each of their four matches in a tie-breaker third set. In the semifinals, they produced a 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-10) comeback from a set down to upset top-seeded Italians Orsi Toth & Bianchi.

Orsi Toth & Bianchi recovered with a 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-12) win over Fleming & Milutinovic in the bronze medal match to grab their second Beach Pro Tour medal as a team.

2021 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship silver medallists Dal Corso & Viscovich celebrated their first Beach Pro Tour gold and overall third podium, after earning two bronze medals last year at the Italian Futures events in Messina and Corigliano Rossano. Seeded as the number one team in Cervia, they crowned their five-game winning streak with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) sweep of the final against fifth-seeded Henning & Poniewaz. In the semifinals earlier on Sunday, however, Dal Corso & Viscovich had to battle their way back from losing the first set to ninth-seeded Yves Haussener & Julian Friedli of Switzerland before celebrating a 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-9) victory.

In the other semifinal, the Germans squeezed out a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 17-15) victory over eighth-seeded Aye & Aye, winning their third tie-breaker in the four-match winning run towards the final, to decorate their duo’s Beach Pro Tour debut with a medal.

Aye & Aye had started the tournament with a straight-set loss to Haussener & Friedli, but got back at the Swiss with a straight-set win in the bronze medal match, 2-0 (24-22, 21-19), to make their third Beach Pro Tour podium.

28 men’s and 27 women’s teams representing a total of 20 different countries took part in the Cervia Futures. This week’s Beach Pro Tour schedule offers another Futures event in Italy, in Battipaglia from May 23 to 26, while an Elite16 event in Espinho, Portugal takes place from May 22 to 26.

Cervia Futures: results and standings

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