Maryna Hladun & Tetiana Lazarenko of Ukraine achieved their first ever Challenge-level gold on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Seeded 11^th in the women’s main draw, they topped the podium in Chennai on Sunday. 32-year-old Hladun and 21-year-old Lazarenko have been touring together since August 2023 and have collected one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Futures level as a team. Now they celebrated a historic success with their first medal in the higher Beach Pro Tour category. Lazarenko also has the 2021 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship title in her showcase.

• Watch the Chennai Challenge on VBTV.

USA’s Hailey Harward & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg, on the other hand, picked up their first Beach Pro Tour medal of any category as a team. The 16th-seeded Americans reached the Chennai final and claimed silver. Last year, DeBerg earned a Halifax Futures bronze with Carli Lloyd.

The third place on the podium also went to an American team. Molly Shaw & Toni Rodriguez backed up their Haikou Challenge silver from last week with a Chennai Challenge bronze this week, once again progressing from the qualifications all the way to the podium. These were their first two appearances on the Tour as a pair. Before that, they had one Challenge-level silver each with different partners, as well as some podiums at Futures events.

Harward & DeBerg stormed Sunday’s gold medal match on a 4-0 run and reached a triple set point at 20-17 before Hladun & Lazarenko mounted an impressive comeback to win the set. The Ukrainians stayed in control throughout the second set until Lazarenko tipped the ball to the sand to close the match at 2-0 (23-21, 21-17). The two European athletes shared the top scorer honours with 17 points each, with Hladun including two kill blocks and an ace to her tally. DeBerg led the American team with 15 points, including two stuffs.

“It’s amazing!” exclaimed Hladun after the final. “This was the first time we won a gold medal from a Challenge tournament. We had a dream and it finally came true!”

“I don’t have any words! I am so happy, that’s all!” Lazarenko added.

In the bronze medal match before that, fifth-seeded Shaw & Toni managed a 2-1 (21-11, 20-22, 15-8) upset of top-seeded Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte, who represented Lithuania at this year’s Paris Olympics. The two American players contributed 23 points apiece, with Toni firing three aces and raising four kill blocks and Shaw adding another two serving points. Raupelyte led the Lithuanian team with 18 points, including four blocks and an ace.

In the first semifinal on Sunday morning, Harward & DeBerg produced a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) upset of Paulikiene & Raupelyte with a 21-point match high from DeBerg, including three blocks and two aces. Then, Hladun & Lazarenko swept their semifinal against Shaw & Toni in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19), capitalizing on the Americans’ abundant unforced errors. Lazarenko was the best scorer of the match with 17 points to her name.

VW Beach Pro Tour Chennai Challenge: results and schedule

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