Americans Carly Kan & Madalyn Anderson and Austrians Christoph Dressler & Maximilian Trummer triumphed as winners in St. Vlas Futures, Bulgaria's first Beach Pro Tour world series tournament. In Sunday's final matches on the beautiful Venid Beach near Marina Dinevi yacht port, they defeated two Dutch pairs - Brecht Piersma & Wies Bekhuis and Mees Sengers & Dirk Boehlé, respectively. Two other American teams celebrated bronze medals - Kennedy Coakley & Brooke Sweat for women and Hagen Smith & Logan Webber for men.
In an extremely interesting women's final, top seeds Piersma & Bekhuis managed to save several American game points before conceding the first set, but they prevailed in the second set to send the match to a tie-break. In it, however, sixth seeds Kan & Anderson dominated to win the match 2:1 (24:22, 17:21, 15:8). Thus, in only their second Beach Pro Tour tournament appearance, the newly formed American tandem celebrated gold. The pair of Piersma & Bekhuis added a fourth medal to their circuit collection.
“It was a big fight in the final. We have played against this Dutch team before and we know they don't give up until the end. We are glad that we were focused, played strongly and managed to win,” said a joyful Carly Kan after the match.
“I had never been to Bulgaria or heard of Bulgaria, as I live so far from here, and I arrived without any expectations,” added Maddie Anderson. “But I liked it a lot! I like the beach, the temperature is great, I also like the tropical humidity... Honestly, everything is perfect. A great place! And the organization was definitely very good.”
In the bronze medal match, seventh-seeded Frenchwomen Elsa Descamps & Marine Kinna were very close to a complete comeback against number 5 Coakley & Sweat from 10:21, 2:10, but in the final moments of the tie-break, the Americans were more convincing and celebrated a podium finish after 2:1 (21:10, 17:21, 15:10). The bronze in St. Vlas was the American pair's first medal in the Beach Pro Tour.
In the semi-final matches on Sunday morning, Piersma & Bekhuis defeated Coakley & Sweat 2:0 (21:17, 23:21), and Kan & Anderson prevailed over Descamps & Kinna 2:0 (21:11, 21:15).
The men's final was also extremely spectacular but was decided in just two sets. Fifth-seeded Dressler & Trummer managed to impose their will on the court and deservedly won their first medal in the Beach Pro Tour after a golden victory of 2:0 (21:18, 21:16) over number 3 Sengers & Boehlé. For the Dutchmen, the silver from St. Vlas was their second in the circuit.
“Usually, when you play well, most of the time you don't know exactly what you were doing. We did it without thinking too much, just using our best shots, with a lot of team chemistry, energy and power, and having fun on the court,” said Chris Dressler immediately after the final. “I think Bulgaria is very beautiful and it was a pleasure for me to be here. And this resort has a lot of nice hotels and clubs and I definitely want to come back here, either for beach volleyball or for a holiday.”
“Tonight, we will fight, and whoever wins will sleep with the cup,” joked Max Trummer. “From now on, we will try to raise the level and move upwards. I also liked it a lot here, and the tournament organizers did a great job. We felt welcome everywhere and we thank them for making this experience so special for us.”
Top-seeded Americans Smith & Webber took bronze after a 2:0 (21:15, 21:16) victory over number 2 Florian Schnetzer & Lorenz Petutschnig from Austria in the third-place match. Thus, only two weeks after triumphing with gold in Battipaglia Futures in Italy, the American tandem won their third medal from the world circuit.
In the semi-final matches, Sengers & Boehlé defeated Smith & Webber 2:0 (21:18, 23:21), and Dressler & Trummer overcame their compatriots Schnetzer & Petutschnig 2:0 (21:14, 22:20).