Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova booked the first spot in Sunday’s final of the women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Adelaide. In the first of two semifinals on Saturday, they produced an emphatic shutout of the world’s number one ranked team, top-seeded Brazilians Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, and secured Latvia’s first ever World Championship podium in either gender. Fifth-seeded Tina & Anastasija will find out their opponents later on Saturday, when second-seeded Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti of Brazil take on third-seeded Kristen Nuss & Taryn Brasher of the United States in the second semifinal, serving off at 20:00 local time (09:30 UTC).

• Watch the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships on VBTV

Inspired by a loyal Latvian crowd on the stands around center court in Adelaide, Tina & Anastasija dominated the game and celebrated a 2-0 (21-10, 21-16) victory over Thamela & Victoria. With the help of a couple of Tina kill blocks, Latvia took the lead early in the first set, extended it to an impressive 10-2 advantage and never looked back. The completely one-sided set ended at a wide 11-point margin with a block-out kill by Anastasija for the winning point. The second set was not as one-sided, but followed a very similar storyline. Again with a couple of kill blocks from Tina, Latvia took an early lead and never lost the momentum, while the Brazilian team could not find the answers to their opponents’ solid performance. The match winner came with Thamela serving long for 21-16.

Tina raised a total of six kill blocks and added an ace towards a match-high 20 points. Anastasija also delivered an ace and tallied a total of 11 points. Thamela led the Brazilian team with 12 points, also including an ace.

“Those who follow us know that we’ve been in a lot of semifinals recently and have gone fourth place. So, this match was perhaps even the most important match of this whole tournament so far and we came in mentally strong,” Tina told VBTV after the game.

“I have a great team! I am so grateful for our journey with Tina. We are so lucky!” Anastasija added. “We are so hard-working and we have the back-up of the whole Latvian family – everyone, who cheers for us around the world! You cannot imagine! We are so grateful for everyone and also so grateful for ourselves, that we have each other.”

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships: schedule and results

Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Adelaide 2025
VBTV
Beach Volleyball World Facebook
Beach Volleyball World X
Beach Volleyball World Instagram
Beach Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter