Pairs from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported federations of Moldova and Norway made the podiums at zonal beach volleyball events last week.
BVA Beach Volleyball Tour in Balikesir, Turkiye
Before hosting a Beach Pro Tour Futures event this week, Balikesir welcomed a stop on the BVA Beach Volleyball Balkan Tour. With support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, Moldovan duos – Ana Nicolaev & Polina Voleanin (pictured in the main photo; source: @TVForgtr) and Egor Dobcis & Maxim Korsakov – topped the women’s and the men’s podiums. Darina Kindova & Eleonora Gicheva of Bulgaria took women’s silver, while the bronze was claimed by Turkiye’s Esra Demirkiran & Berfin Ozturk. Romania’s Eduard Popa & Andrei Grigore and Bulgaria’s Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev completed the men’s podium.
Moldova’s beach volleyball is benefitting from a USD 42,000 grant in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national teams, trained by Bulgarian coach Vladimir Orlov.
Moldova’s Ana Nicolaev & Polina Voleanin cruised through the women’s tournament in Balikesir dropping only a set in five matches played. In the semifinals, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) win over Turkiye’s Esra Demirkiran & Berfin Ozturk, and in the final against Bulgaria’s Darina Kindova & Eleonora Gicheva, they mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) sweep to lift the zonal trophy.
Kindova & Gicheva lost two of their five matches in Balikesir – both to Nicolaev & Voleanin – and that was enough for a silver medal. In the last step to the gold medal match, the Bulgarians defeated Latvian wild cards Marta Vildere & Amanda Regute by 2-0 (21-19, 21-18).
Demirkiran & Berfin pleased the home fans with bronze after mounting a 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-4) comeback against the Latvians in the third-place match.
Women’s results and standings
Similar to their compatriots, Egor Dobcis & Maxim Korsakov also lost only one set on the way to the Balkan crown. The Moldovans produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-9) shutout of Turkiye’s Polat Kemal Eser & Freddie Jude Foks in the semifinals and a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) shutout of Romania’s Eduard Popa & Andrei Grigore in the gold medal showdown.
It was Popa & Grigore’s second loss to Dobcis & Korsakov in the tournament. They won their other three games in Turkiye, including the semifinal against Bulgaria’s Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev, a hard-fought three-setter, decided in the overtime of the tie-breaker, 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 16-14).
Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev bounced back with a 2-1 (18-21, 21-10, 15-7) victory over the Turkish duo in the third-place playoff to claim the bronze.
12 women’s and 12 men’s teams from Bulgaria, Latvia, Moldova, Romania and Turkiye took part in the BVA Tour events in Balikesir.
NEVZA Beach Volleyball Tour in Oddanesand, Norway
Pairs from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Norway swept the entire men’s podium at last week’s NEVZA Beach Volleyball Tour stop in Oddanesand. Even Aas & Mathias Berntsen, Jonah Kjemperud & Sebastian Kjemperud and Marius Pande & Magnus Helgerud, in that order, lined up with the gold, silver and bronze. Another home team – Sofia Mol & Julia Thelle – won the women’s tournament, with Sweden’s Emilia Saxne & Sanna Madestam and Fanny Ahman & Helene Jernbeck emerging as first and second runners-up.
Norges Volleyballforbund, the Norwegian national federation, has so far been allocated a total of USD 252,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams. Currently, coach Jetmund Bernsten is in charge of the men’s duos. In addition, a USD 6,000 for a national team coach development knowledge transfer program was granted.
Even Aas & Mathias Berntsen marched through the men’s tournament in Norway to the Northern European title in an impeccable manner, winning all six of their matches in straight sets, including a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) sweep of the semifinal against fellow Norwegians Marius Pande & Magnus Helgerud and a tight 2-0 (21-16, 24-22) victory over another pair of compatriots – Jonah Kjemperud & Sebastian Kjemperud – in the gold medal showdown.
The Kjemperuds also reached the final undefeated. They secured their spot on the podium with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 15-12) comeback win over yet another Norwegian semifinalist – Syver Klungsoyr & Tobias Pedersen. Pande & Helgerud also beat Klungsoyr & Pedersen in three sets, 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-13), to snatch the bronze.
On the women’s side, Norway’s Sofia Mol & Julia Thelle had to make a short pass through the losers’ side of the double-elimination bracket to line up among the semifinalists. Then, they battled it out for a 2-1 (21-16, 22-24, 15-13) semifinal victory over Sweden’s Fanny Ahman & Helene Jernbeck, before mounting a 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-10) comeback in the final against Emilia Saxne & Sanna Madestam, also of Sweden.
Saxne & Madestam were the other team that came into the semis from the losers’ bracket, but then moved on to the gold medal match with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) sweep of their semifinal game against Norway’s Julia Tennoy & Cathrine Hjeltnes.
Ahman & Jernbeck secured Sweden’s second podium spot with a 2-1 (21-10, 18-21, 15-10) win over Tennoy & Hjetnes in the bronze medal match.
Women’s results and standings
38 men’s and 22 women’s teams from England, Finland, Norway and Sweden participated in the NEVZA Tour events in Oddanesand.
