New Year, New Teams: PART 2 (women)

While many of the men's teams will continue to compete in their usual constellation in 2023, the women's field will be shaken up by several new teams. In Germany and Canada in particular, no stone seems to be left unturned. And our Beach moms Markéta Sluková, Laura Ludwig and Liliana will be back on court in 2023.

BEACH MOMS BACK ON COURT

SLUKOVÁ / HAVELKOVÁ

“Beach Maki” (Markéta Nausch Sluková) is back after her baby break and will compete with a former indoor volleyball player: Helena Havelková. Together they are already looking forward to competing at the Olympics 2024. We can´t wait to see how the mix of an experienced beach and indoor volleyball player will harmonize.

LIPPMANN / LUDWIG

Like Sluková, also the Olympic champion and former world and 4-time European champion Laura Ludwig is back after her 2nd baby break!
Her big goal is to get back to the top of the world at the Olympic games 2024 in Paris, together with her new partner Louisa Lippmann. Lippmann, a successful former indoor volleyball player, started her beach career in 2022 and already participated at the EuroBeachVolley in Munich together with Ludwig’s former team mate Kira Walkenhorst.
Let’s see if the one of the most successful beach volleyball player and her new partner will mix up the 2023 season.

LILIANA / PAULA SORIA

Spanish beach legend Liliana Fernández Steiner is back on court for the season 2023 after a baby break too! After nearly ten years together with Elsa Baquerizo Macmillan, she returns to court with a new partner: Paula Soria Gutiérrez. The newly formed team wants to make sure that Spain remains one of the top beach volleyball countries in Europe. We are excited to see where their journey together will take them.

German partner swaps

ITTLINGER/BORGER

After a quite successful time with Sude on the international tour, Borger wants to set a new impulse with a partner swap to go a step further. She and her new partner Ittlinger already gained their first experience together on the big stage in Paris.

SUDE/SCHNEIDER

Borger’s & Ittlinger’s former team mates, Sude and Schneider, form also a new power duo. A win at their second tournament together (Challenger in Dubai, 10/22) was an impressive way to start their common career.

NEW US TEAM STARTS WITH TWO WINS

HUGHES/CHENG

Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng have already formed a beach duo in their beginnings and they are now back together on the court. The college titles together in 2016 and 2017 were the biggest success so far, but the comeback of the US beach formation look promising: Two wins in a row in Australia in their first two tournaments! We are excited to see how the will perform in 2023.

CANADA'S NEW MIX

PAVAN/BUKOVEC

Partner swap also in Canada: former world champion Sarah Pavan will be on the sand with Sophie Bukovec in 2023. Sophie will thus become Sarah's third partner since 2013 on the international beach stage. Sophie impressively proved her talent when she was runner-up at the 2022 World Championships and wants her partner, who is 9 years older, to build on her successes from the previous year.

WILKERSON/ HUMANA-PAREDES

Brandie Wilkerson, who played with Bukovec for a year following the retirement of her long-time partner Heather Bansley, plans to hit the ground running in 2023 with Melissa Humana-Paredes, who played successfully with Pavan for many years. The reigning vice world champion and former world champion are ready to hit the international center courts together!