Molly Shaw and Toni Rodriguez of the US completed a Cinderella run in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge Nuvali, turning back Noa Sonneville and Brecht Piersma of the Netherlands, 24-22, 17-21, 15-10, to claim the gold medal on Sunday, Dec 1, in the City of Santa Rosa.
At 105th in the world, Shaw and Rodriguez were among the unheralded players from the US delegation but proved their worth with an amazing rise from the qualifying event to the top of the podium at the Nuvali Sand Courts.
Rodriguez had 27 of the pair’s 41 attack points and also had four blocks as the American pair clinched gold to add to their bronze medal from the BPT Challenge Chennai and silver in the BPT Challenge Haikou.
It was a dramatic finish to a week of intense volleyball, with both teams looking to seize the top prize and the lion’s share of the $75,000 purse after needing to qualify for a spot in the loaded 24-team main draw featuring seven teams in the world’s top 50 and other highly-rated pro tour teams.
Sonneville and Piersma were the only ones to take a set from the Shaw-Rodriguez pair in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation under its president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, who is also president of the Asian Volleyball Confederation and executive vice president of the world governing body Federation Internationale de Volleyball.
Shaw and Rodriguez beat world No. 84 Malgorzata Ciezkowska and Urszula Lunio of Poland, 21-17, 21-18 in the round of four, while Sonneville and Piersma beat World No. 56 Sandra Ittlinger and Kim Van de Velde of Germany in the other semifinal, 16-21, 21-17, 15-13.
Ittlinger and Van de Velde ended a run of near-podium finishes, claiming the bronze medal with a 21-18, 21-16 victory over Ciezkowska and Urszula.
Twice fourth placer — in the BPT Elite 16 Rio de Janeiro in early November and the BPT Futures Brussels in August — and fifth in the BPT Elite 16 João Pessoa in Brazil, Ittlinger and Van de Velde managed to salvage a podium spot.
