All six medals of the beach volleyball events at the South American Games in Santa Fe, Argentina were snatched by teams benefitting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support. Brazil’s Carol Solberg (pictured in the main photo; source: Vôlei Brasil) & Rebecca Cavalcanti and Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci triumphed as champions. Michelle Valiente & Giuliana Poletti Corrales of Paraguay and Lisbeth Allcca Merino & Claudia Gaona Arevalo of Peru claimed the women’s silver and bronze, while Enyenser Delgado & Juliangel Zaid of Venezuela and Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt of Chile completed the men’s podium.
The Confederacao Brasileira de Voleibol has been granted USD 42,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams. Their women’s pairs benefit from the coaching of Ricardo Cunha de Freitas, Leticia De Amorim Pessoa and Iago Oliveira Hercowitz, while the men’s duos take advantage of the coaching expertise of Caio Bruno Lopes da Silva, Marco Antonio Moura Char and Wallace Luis Ferreira Ramos. The national beach volleyball teams of Paraguay have been funded with a total of USD 336,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Currently, they are trained by Brazilian coach Adriano Garrido. Paraguay’s national federation’s beach volleyball program has been granted another USD 12,000 for national team coach development knowledge transfer programs and USD 11,000 in beach volleyball equipment. The Venezuelan Volleyball Federation has been allocated a total of USD 72,500 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support, a large portion of which was tagged to their national teams in beach volleyball, working under Cuban coach Eugenio Ortiz Tellez. In addition, USD 6,000 has been granted for a beach volleyball national team coach development knowledge transfer program. Peru’s beach volleyball department has received USD 84,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national duos and USD 11,500 in beach volleyball equipment. Their pairs have been preparing under coach Leobardo Sanabria. Chile’s beach volleyball program has been granted USD 953,500 in coach support, in addition to USD 23,000 worth of beach volleyball equipment from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their national beach volleyball teams are benefitting from the expertise of talent identification coach Ramon Ferreira Gomes do Santos of Brazil and assistant coach Felipe Gomez Badilla.
The number one team in the FIVB World Ranking, Brazil’s Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti, cruised through the five matches of their campaign at the South American Games in Argentina without dropping a single set. In their semifinal, the bracket leaders mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) win over fourth-seeded Peruvians Lisbeth Allcca Merino & Claudia Gaona Arevalo, and in the gold medal showdown against second-seeded Paraguayan Olympians Giuliana Poletti Corrales & Michelle Valiente, Carol & Rebecca celebrated a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) victory to top the women’s beach volleyball podium at the continental multi-sport event.
In their semifinal, Michelle & Corrales hammered out a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) shutout of seventh-seeded Venezuelans Darlin Rodriguez & Valeria Moreno to shape up a perfect four-match winning streak without a set lost that led them to the silver medals.
In the third-place game against Rodriguez & Valeria, Allcca & Gaona put together a 2-0 (21-15, 21-9) sweep, bouncing back from their only loss of the tournament, to bring the bronze home to Peru.
After two tie-breakers and a surprising loss to Venezuela’s Enyenser Delgado & Juliangel Zaid in Pool B, second-seeded Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci of Brazil, the world’s number three team, advanced to the knockouts in Santa Fe as pool runners-up. They had to play one more three-setter, in their semifinal against top-seeded Argentinean home favorites Tomas Capogrosso & Nicolas Capogrosso, but after a 2-1 (14-21, 21-16, 17-15) comeback, the Brazilians went on to take a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) revenge from Juliangel & Esyenser in the gold medal final.
This was the seventh-seeded Venezuelan duo’s first loss of the tournament. Their four-match winning streak peaked with a 2-1 (11-21, 27-25, 15-12) comeback victory over fourth-seeded Chileans Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt in the semifinals.
In that match, the Grimalt cousins dropped their only sets of the competition, but then recovered with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) straight-setter in the bronze medal playoff against the Capogrosso brothers.
12 women’s and 12 men’s duos representing 10 different federations took part in the South American Games beach volleyball events.
