Evandro and Andre came out on top of the Brazilian Tour stop in Itapema

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CAMPEÕES ! Evandro e André Stein (RJ/ES) conseguiram mais um ouro na temporada 17/18 do Circuito Brasileiro Open de vôlei de praia. Eles venceram na decisão em Itapema (SC) Pedro Solberg e George (RJ/PB) por 2 sets a 1. O bronze da etapa ficou com Álvaro Filho e Saymon (PB/MS), que venceram Vinícius e Luciano (ES) por 2 a 0. O Circuito volta em janeiro, em Fortaleza. Parabéns, atletas e torcida ! #bbnosesportes #meulugaraosol #voleidepraia

1,187 Likes, 7 Comments - Conf. Brasileira de Voleibol (@cbvolei) on Instagram: "CAMPEÕES ! Evandro e André Stein (RJ/ES) conseguiram mais um ouro na temporada 17/18 do Circuito..."

The 2017 season could not have ended differently for Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola.

The Brazilians, who won the FIVB World Championships last August, waved goodbye to the most prolific year of their careers this Sunday by triumphing in the third stop of the Brazilian National Tour in Itapema, Santa Catarina.

The reigning world champions defeated Evandro’s former partner, Pedro Solberg, and his new teammate, George Wanderley, in three sets (21-19, 20-22, 15-12) to top the podium. It was the second victory in three tournaments for Evandro and Andre, who lead the ranking in Brazil.

“It was definitely my best season,” Evandro said. “I have the conviction that success doesn’t happen without hard work and we’ve been putting a lot of effort on that. We are very focused on everything we do: from physical or tactical trainings to the sessions with our psychologist. I am very happy about everything that happened to us and now it’s time to rest a little bit and enjoy our vacation.”

Fort Lauderdale Major winners and defending Brazilian champions Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa claimed bronze by prevailing over the tournament’s dark horses Luciano Ferreira and Vinícius Freitas, who eliminated Olympic champions Bruno Schmidt and Ricardo Santos, who joined forces for this event, in the quarterfinals.

In the women’s tournament, Carol Solberg and Maria Elisa Antonelli finally climbed to the top of the podium after finishing second in the first two events of the 2017/2018 season. The duo prevailed over youngsters Ana Patrícia Ramos (20) and Rebecca Silva (24) in three sets (21-18, 14-21, 15-13) in the gold medal match.

É CAMPEÃO!!!!!!!! Título! Alegria! União! Trabalho! Parceria! Merecimento! Força! Junção! Celebração! Esse título é nosso!!!!! Vamos festejar! #CarolSolbergeMariaElisa #VôleiDePraia #BeachVolleyball #ThisIsBeachVolleyball #CBV #FIVB

922 Likes, 51 Comments - CarolSolbergeMariaElisa (@carolsolbergemariaelisa) on Instagram: "É CAMPEÃO!!!!!!!! Título! Alegria! União! Trabalho! Parceria! Merecimento! Força! Junção!..."

“We never stopped believing,” Carol said after the match. “They had a four-point lead in the third set but our focus was the same. Our minds were really strong in the match and we had the patience to get the points we needed in the right moments. It’s amazing to be back in the top of the podium and realize that every sacrifice we make is worth it.”

World Tour Finals silver medalists Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa were the third team on the podium as they defeated Tainá Bigi and Vitoria Rodrigues in the bronze medal match.

The Brazilian Tour will have now a two-month break until it resumes action in the last week of January in Fortaleza, Ceará. Four stops of the tournament are scheduled for the first semester of 2018.