Dutch and Swiss teams celebrated significant success at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Veracruz, Mexico, which concluded on Sunday, securing top medals.
Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam reunited as partners only three weeks ago (Photo: Volleyball World)
Dutch Olympians Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam emerged victorious in the women`s tournament. In the men`s event, Swiss duo Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli climbed onto the podium, securing a third-place finish.
This triumph in Veracruz was particularly poignant for Schoon and Stam. They had been separated for a significant part of the 2025 international season while Stam recovered from a back injury. Having only rekindled their partnership three weeks prior, this gold medal marked their impressive return, achieved in just their third tournament back together.
In the final showdown, Schoon and Stam convincingly defeated American opponents Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen in straight sets (21-16, 21-14) to secure the title. Notable European performances also came from Czechia`s Marketa Svozilová/Marie-Sára Štochlová and Katerina Pavelková/Anna Pavelková, both of whom finished fifth.
The men`s competition featured an all-European battle for the bronze medal. Haussener and Friedli ultimately prevailed against Italians Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso, winning in two sets (23-21, 21-17) to claim the final podium spot.
Earlier in the tournament, other European teams, including the Netherlands’ Ruben Penninga/Matthew Immers, Austria’s Christoph Dresller/Philipp Waller, and Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich/Jonathan Jordan, were eliminated in the quarterfinals, resulting in a fifth-place finish for each.
The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is set to continue next week with an Elite event. The competition will move to Newport Beach, California, USA, scheduled to take place from Tuesday to Saturday.
