Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske take Volleyball World Beach Itapema gold

Americans Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske, playing in their just third tournament together, won the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Itapema Challenge in Brazil on Sunday. 

“We fought so much and we’re so happy to bring the gold home,” Kolinske told Volleyball World. “Hopefully there are more of these to come. We know we can play any team in the world and I am confident we can win multiple medals this season.”

Fifth-seeded Hughes, 27, and Kolinske, 29, beat second-seeded Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam of the Netherlands 21-18, 21-18 on Meia Praia Beach. It came on the heels of winning their semifinal match earlier Sunday, when Hughes and Kolinske beat ninth-seeded Germans Karla Borger and Julia Sude 21-18, 21-19.

Hughes, the former USC great, and Kolinske, formerly Kelley Larsen who starred at Pepperdine, lost just one set in their six matches and took home $10,000, while Schoon and Stam won $8,000. The pair finished ninth at the Volleyball World Tlaxcala Challenge and fifth at the Rosarito Elite 16.

In the semifinals, Schoon and Stam, who have been in all three Volleyball World finals this season and won the Rosarito Elite 16, beat 11th-seeded Brazilians Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria De Souza 21-10, 21-16. The Brazilians beat the Germans 21-11, 21-17 for bronze.

On the men’s side, top-seeded Andre Loyola and George Wanderly of Brazil beat the third-seeded Czech pair of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner 19-21, 21-14, 15-12. The Brazilians beat the Dutch pair of Leon Luini in the semifinals, while Perusic and Schweiner advanced when Estonians Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar had to forfeit both the semis and bronze-medal match.

The next big event on the Volleyball World calendar is the Challenge May 5-8 in Doha, Qatar. The next Elite 16 is May 25-29 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

For complete Itapema results, go to BVBinfo.com. Click here for video highlights of the women’s final.

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In a Volleyall World Futures event in Songkhla, Thailand, Americans Miles Evans and Andy Benesh lost in the final to Italians Davide Benzi and Carlo Bonifazi. The Italians won $1,000, while Evans and Benesh won $700 and picked up 360 points.

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VBM Staff