The home teams largely prevailed at the Modena Futures on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Italian pairs collected as many as five of the six medals, leaving only one of the silvers to a non-Italian duo. Leanne van Vegten & Jill de Groot of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Netherlands finished runners-up to home favorites Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth, while Anna Pelloia & Maria Rachele Mancinelli completed the women’s podium. Tiziano Andreatta & Raoul Acerbi, Marco Di Felice & Davide Borraccino and Marco Ulisse & Giacomo Spadoni delighted the home fans by claiming the gold, the silver and the bronze, respectively, in the men’s tournament.
The Netherlands Volleyball Federation (Nevobo) has so far been granted a total of USD 664,000 in national beach volleyball teams coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s pairs work under the guidance of Brazilian coach Lucas Motta Palermo.
Second-seeded Leanne van Vegten (pictured in the main photo; credits: Alberto Marinelli / FIPAV Modena) & Jill de Groot of the Netherlands reached the Modena women’s gold medal showdown unbeaten. They lost their first set of the tournament in the semifinals, but squeezed out a hard-fought 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 17-15) success against 10th-seeded Italians Claudia Puccinelli & Aurora Mattavelli to secure their third (second back-to-back) Beach Pro Tour medal, after their golds at the Apeldoorn Futures and at the Laginha Beach Futures earlier this season.
Italy’s leading pair of Paris 2024 Olympian Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth celebrated their second Beach Por Tour gold together, after the 2025 Hamburg Elite triumph, and made it to their fourth podium (first at the Futures level). The bracket leaders went through the tournament in Modena undefeated in five matches played, dropping one set along the way. In their semifinal, they mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) win over 13th-seeded compatriots Anna Pelloia & Maria Rachele Mancinelli, and in the final, they produced a 2-0 (21-11, 21-12) victory over their Dutch opponents.
Pelloia & Mancinelli took the bronze after a forfeit win over Puccinelli & Mattavelli in the all-Italian third-place fixture to decorate their Beach Pro Tour debut as a partnership with a spot on the podium.
Tiziano Andreatta & Raoul Acerbi rode the wave of a seven-game winning streak that took them from the qualifiers all the way to the top of the podium, with only a set dropped along the way. Seeded 12th in the 16-team men’s main draw, Andreatta & Acerbi delivered a 2-0 (21-14, 25-23) upset of top-seeded compatriots Enrico Rossi & Marco Caminati in the semifinals and a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) sweep of the final match against 10th-seeded Marco Di Felice & Davide Borraccino. This way, Andreatta & Acerbi celebrated their first Beach Pro Tour gold and second consecutive podium, after the Geneva Futures bronze in June.
18-year-old Marco Di Felice crowned his Beach Pro Tour debut with a spot on the podium. He and Davide Borraccino reached the Modena final on a four-game winning run that climaxed with a 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-13) comeback victory over third-seeded Marco Ulisse & Giacomo Spadoni in the semifinals.
Ulisse & Spadoni bounced back with a nail-biting 2-1 (30-28, 15-21, 16-14) win over bracket leaders Rossi & Caminati in the bronze medal playoff to enjoy their second consecutive podium finish, after the Geneva Futures silver two months ago.
26 women’s and 28 men’s pairs representing 23 different federations took part in the Modena Futures.
The next Futures stop on the Beach Pro Tour will be held in Budapest, Hungary from September 3 to 6.
