Teams from Lithuania and France, both representing federations that receive assistance from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment program, achieved podium finishes at the recent women`s Geneva Futures tournament on the Beach Pro Tour. The Lithuanian pairing of Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite secured the silver medal in Switzerland, while France`s Elsa Descamps and Romane Sobezalz earned the bronze. The gold medal went to newcomers Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig from the United States, who had an impressive debut on the Beach Pro Tour.
The beach volleyball department of the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation has received significant support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, totaling USD 477,000 for coach support benefiting their national pairs, plus an additional USD 12,000 for national team coaches development through knowledge transfer initiatives. Their women`s teams are currently training under the guidance of coaches Paulius Matulis and Austrian Simon Nausch. Similarly, the French beach volleyball program has been allocated substantial coach support funding from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, amounting to USD 1,077,000 to date. Their women`s national duos work with coach Youssef Krou. Furthermore, the Federation Francaise de Volleyball has also been provided with USD 5,500 worth of beach volleyball equipment.
Lithuania`s second-seeded duo, Dumbauskaite and Grudzinskaite, advanced to the Geneva Futures final without losing a single set throughout the tournament. In their semifinal match against the fourth-seeded French pair, Descamps and Sobezalz, they secured a dominant 2-0 victory (21-19, 21-11) to guarantee a place on the podium. This result marks their second silver medal and fourth overall medal on the Beach Pro Tour. It is their third podium finish this season alone, adding to a bronze from the Nuvali Futures and a silver from the Battipaglia Futures.
Descamps and Sobezalz of France also finished the event with a strong 4-1 win-loss record. However, their loss to Lithuania in the semifinal meant they would compete for bronze. They successfully bounced back in the third-place match, sweeping the sixth-seeded Canadian team, Kaylee Glagau and Emma Glagau, 2-0 (21-12, 21-16). This win secured their second career medal together on the Beach Pro Tour, following a silver medal at the 2024 Castellon Futures.
The 21-year-old American rookies, Durish and Koenig, began their Geneva campaign in the qualification rounds and impressively strung together seven consecutive victories to reach the top of the podium, dropping only two sets throughout the entire tournament. One of those sets was a hard-fought overtime loss in the second set of the final. Seeded 14th in the main draw of 16 teams, Durish and Koenig achieved an upset victory in the gold medal match against Dumbauskaite and Grudzinskaite with a score of 2-1 (21-16, 24-26, 15-5). In their semifinal, the US pair defeated the Glagaus 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).
Following a men`s Futures event held in Geneva the previous week, the women`s tournament saw competition between 25 teams representing 14 different countries. The Beach Pro Tour Futures circuit is scheduled to continue this week with the next stop taking place in Montpellier, France, from July 3 to 6.
Oliver Wrenwick 
Finley Blackwood