Second-seeded Molly Shaw & Toni Rodriguez topped the women’s podium at the Nuvali Challenge in the Philippines on Sunday. It was their third Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour appearance together. Over the past three consecutive tournaments, the American pair always started from the qualifications and made it to the podium, and after the Haikou Challenge silver and the Chennai Challenge bronze, now they topped the Nuvali Challenge with the duo’s first-ever gold. They cruised through the event undefeated in six matches and the only set they dropped on the way to the trophy was in Sunday’s final.

• Watch the Nuvali Challenge on VBTV.

19-year-old Noa Sonneville of the Netherlands claimed her first Beach Pro Tour medal. Together with 21-year-old reigning U21 world champion Brecht Piersma, they decorated their partnership’s debut with silver in Nuvali. They also started their campaign from the qualifiers and, seeded 20^th in the main draw, rode on a 7-2 win-loss record all the way to the podium.

The bronze went to top-seeded Sandra Ittlinger & Kim Van de Velde of Germany. It was the first Beach Pro Tour medal for the recently formed pair too, after two fourth places and a fifth.

In Sunday’s gold medal showdown, Shaw & Molly shrugged off Piersma’s seven aces to battle it out for a hard-fought 2-1 (24-22, 17-21, 15-10) victory. In the first set, the Americans denied three Dutch set points before winning it deep in the overtime. Half way through the second, Sonneville & Piersma took control and levelled the match, but then Shaw & Molly dominated the tie-breaker, with Toni hammering the game winner to finish with a fantastic match high of 34 points, including four blocks and three aces. Shaw added another 15 points towards the victory. On the Netherlands’ side, Sonneville led the way with 23 points, all in attack, while Piersma finished with 19.

“We knew this was going to be a really tough game. When it came to the third set, we knew that all of their games went to three and we thought, ‘oh, my god, they are good at three-setters, so we’ve got to go and stick together, and trust what we can do’, and that’s what we did,” a happy and tearful Shaw told Volleyball World after the match.

“I have no words! I am just stoked! Thanks to all the fans that came out today and everybody back home!” Toni added.

In the bronze medal match before that, Ittlinger & Van de Velde mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) shutout of 21^st-seeded Polish qualifiers Malgorzata Ciezkowska & Urszula Lunio. Playing better in offence and making fewer unforced errors, the Germans stayed in control throughout the game. Ittlinger led the way with 18 points, including two aces, while Van de Velde added another 10 points towards the victory. The two 20-year-old Poles scored 12 points apiece.

In one of the semifinals on Sunday morning, Sonneville & Piersma mounted a 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-13) comeback from a set down to upset Ittlinger & Van de Velde and secure a podium finish for their young team. The two Dutch players scored 20 points each, with Piersma shining both on the block and on the serve, with four stuffs and four aces to her name. Ittlinger was the best scorer of the match with 27 points, including four aces and three kill blocks.

Shaw & Toni put together a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) sweep of the other semifinal against Ciezkowska & Lunio. Toni raised an impressive seven kill blocks to emerge with a 20-point match high.

VW Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge: schedule and results

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