Fejes & Johnson, Ciezkowska & Lunio and Coakley & Sweat line up on the Krakow podium
Stefanie Fejes & Georgia Johnson in action during the Krakow final (source: cev.eu)
Australia’s Stefanie Fejes & Georgia Johnson topped the podium at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour women’s Futures event that finished in Krakow, Poland on Sunday. Both members of the recently formed partnership have won Futures golds before with previous teammates, but always in Australia, and this was the first time for either of them to triumph away from home. For 19-year-old Fejes it was already the fourth Futures trophy in her collection. Poland’s Malgorzata Ciezkowska & Urszula Lunio settled for silver, while top-seeded Americans Kennedy Coakley & Brooke Sweat took bronze.
Eighth-seeded Fejes & Johnson allowed only one defeat in the six matches played during the tournament. In the Pool A winners’ match, 16th-seeded Ciezkowska & Lunio beat them by a hard-fought 2-1 (14-21, 21-17, 15-12). After that, the Australians went on a four-game winning streak. On Sunday, they produced a 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) semifinal victory over 10th-seeded Madison Shields & Delaney Peranich of the United States to face the same Polish opponents in the final again. The two teams delivered another exciting three-set battle, but this time Fejes & Johnson came back from a set down to end up on the winning end with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-11, 15-9) victory.
It was the fourth Futures gold for 19-year-old Stefanie Fejes. She took all previous three in a partnership with Jana Milutinovic at tournaments played in Australia – Coolangatta 2023, Mollymook 2024 and Coolangatta 2024. They also had one silver captured in “neighbouring” New Zealand, at the 2024 Mount Maunganui Futures. 25-year-old Georgia Johnson’s only previous gold on the Beach Pro Tour was also earned in Australia, at the 2023 Geelong Futures with Jasmine Fleming. That pair also picked up two silver and two bronze medals.
The fourth Beach Pro Tour appearance for the new pair of Fejes & Johnson brought them the team’s first podium.
A spectacular dig by USA’s Madison Shields in Krakow (source: cev.eu)
It was the first podium for 19-year-old Malgorzata Ciezkowska and 20-year-old Urszula Lunio too. The pair has, however, been on three major age-category podiums, with a 2023 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship bronze, a 2023 CEV U20 European Championship gold and a 2024 CEV U22 European Championship silver. They reached the Krakow final undefeated in four consecutive matches, including two upsets of top-seeded Coakley & Sweat. Ciezkowska & Lunio beat the Americans in straight sets in their first Pool A match, and then again, after a three-set battle, in the semifinals, by 2-1 (21-17, 8-21, 15-10).
In an all-American third-place match, 38-year-old Olympian Brooke Sweat and her 18-year-old teammate Kennedy Coakley defeated Shields & Peranich in straight sets, 2-0 (21-17, 21-14), to claim their second Beach Pro Tour bronze in a row, after finishing third at the Sveti Vlas Futures a week earlier.
T
he women’s Krakow Futures 2024 podium (source: cev.eu)
28 teams from 16 different countries took part in the women’s Krakow Futures. A week earlier, the beautiful Polish city also hosted a men’s Futures tournament. The next three Futures events are set to take place this week: from June 19 to 22 in Ios, Greece, and from June 20 to 23 in Messina, Italy and a men’s tournament in Geneva, Switzerland.
Women’s Krakow Futures: results and standings
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