US, Lithuania dispute women’s crown; Aussies vs Swiss in men’s final

USA’s Madelyne Anderson and Alaina Chacon during a match against Ukraine in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Nuvali.–PNVF PHOTO

SANTA ROSA, Laguna — Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte of Lithuania remained unstoppable, outlasting Emi van Driel and Mila Konink of the Netherlands, 21-18, 21-15, to advance to the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge women’s final on Sunday at the Nuvali Sands Courts here.

Paulikiene and Raupelyte booked their third Beach Pro Tour Challenge finals this year, facing Americans Alaina Chacon and Madelyn Anderson in a winner-take-all final at 7 p.m.

Chacon and Anderson of Team USA ended the impressive run of Ukrainian pair Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil, 21-18, 21-19, to reach their first final together as partners.

Paulikiene and Raupelyte are gunning for their first championship after falling short in both the Tlaxcala Challenge and Xiamen Challenge earlier this year.

“We played against them two times, I think this year. One we won, one we lost. So it will be an even fight. Like always, we’ll just concentrate and do as less mistakes as possible and have a good fighting spirit,” said Raupelyte, who finished with 22 points against the Netherlands.

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Chacon and Anderson, who won multiple Futures titles with different partners last season, eye their first Challenge title together.

“We know it’s gonna be a tough game. We’re gonna go out there scout, things we need to do to prepare and the game’s going to be tough. We’re confident, we know it’s going to be tough but we’re gonna be ready for it,” said Chacon, who registered 23 points against Ukraine.

In men’s action, Australia and Switzerland clash for glory at 8 p.m. 

Thomas Hodges and Ben Hood of Australia outlasted Julian Friedli and Jonathan Jordan of Switzerland in three sets, 21-18, 12-21, 15-7, to qualify for the gold medal match.

Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Yves Haussener also gun for their first title after advancing to the final with a 21-19, 23-21 sweep of Germany’s Philipp Huster and Sven Winter.