The first players to represent Lithuania in beach volleyball at the Olympics, Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte, are the nation`s primary hope at this weekend`s 2025 CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Preliminary Phase pool, taking place in the capital city, Vilnius.
Eight national teams will compete for the final spots in the Beach Nations Cup Finals. This exciting “country vs country” format, similar to tennis`s Davis Cup and introduced in 2022, is being held this week at the White Bridge Beach Volleyball Courts.
The event features hosts Lithuania, alongside Croatia, Finland, and Norway in the women`s Pool B. In the men`s Pool D, hosts Lithuania will compete against Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovenia. Matches run from Saturday to Sunday. The winning team in each gender pool will advance to the Finals, scheduled from July 17-20 in Espinho, Portugal.
Paulikiene and Raupelyte, who competed for Lithuania at the Paris Olympics less than a year ago, are crucial to the country`s ambition of reaching the Finals in Vilnius this week. They will be joined by Ariana Rudkovskaja and Skalve Krizanauskaite for the event in the capital.
Finland is also sending their top players to compete in Women`s Pool B this week. Their roster for Vilnius includes the pairings of Niina Ahtiainen/Taru Lahti and Anniina Parkkinen/Valma Prihti.
CEV Beach Nations Cup – Women’s Pool B
Representing Norway will be Ingrid Tunby-Lunde/Emilie Olimstad and Julia Moi Tennøy/Solveig Gladsøy Sunde. For Croatia, Lea Rasic/Ana Sverko and Lucijana Terze/Mirna Becic will be in action in Vilnius.
In the men`s competition, Arnas Rumsevicius/Karolis Palubinskas and Artur Vasiljev/Robert Juchnevic will aim to qualify Lithuania for the Finals on home sand.
Poland, a nation with significant success in European men`s beach volleyball, will be represented by Szymon Beta/Szymon Pietraszek and Aleksander Czachorowski/Jakub Krzeminski.
CEV Beach Nations Cup – Men’s Pool D
Slovenia`s team in Vilnius consists of Crtomir Bošnjak/Jaka Jevšnik and Miha Kosanc/Benjamin Mugerli. Bulgaria will be represented by Dimitar Mehandzhiyski/Dimitar Kalchev and Zahari Zgurov/Georgi Antov at the event.
Jasper Thornfield 
Finley Blackwood