NEVZA Beach England 2025 – day one round-up

Despite a strong East Coast crosswind making play difficult all day on the four-court set-up at South Beach, the nation that is home to the world’s number one male pair, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, quickly showed they meant business.

Number two-seeded men’s team, Jørgen Nilsen and Stian Opsahl, were the first confirmed quarter-finalists, with fellow countrymen and brothers, Jonah Kjemperud and Sebastian Kjemperud, following closely behind, winning Pools B and D respectively.

In each case, they beat teammates in the shape of Vegard Løkken and Erlend Henriksveen and Håvard Solheim and Oscar Majak in their second matches, but each of those losing pairs will progress to tomorrow’s Round of 12, having won their first matches of the day against English opposition.

The fifth Norwegian men’s pair, Christian Ruud and Torje Thorkildsen, were also straight into the quarter-finals, edging out England’s local teenagers Maks Makowski and Josh Cosgrove in two close sets and then seeing off Finnish duo Pekka Piippo and Teppo Pulkkinen more comfortably.

Norway’s women’s teams earned their fair share of glory too. Despite dropping their first set of the tournament against Finland, Julia Tennøy and Solveig Sunde were not deterred and took the direct route to the quarter-finals with two wins from two.

Nina Pavlova and Sunniva Helland Hansen won their first game, only to lose their second, while Vilde Høbol and Oda Skaug had to win an elimination contest with the Finnish side in Pool A, but the Norwegian coaches will have gone to bed delighted that their entire squad remains involved.

It was a mixed day overall for hosts England, but they did have their success stories.

After beating fellow English pair Sam Dunbavin and Johnny Morgan in their first match, number one seeds Niko Gleed and Enrique Bello were pushed hard by Finland' s Veeti Vijiamma and Aleksi Hänninen before coming through in a thrilling three-set match, 15-7 in the tie breaker, to book their quarter-final spot.

Katie Keefe and Matha Bullen also went unbeaten in topping Pool B to also make the last eight, seeing off familiar opponents in Ella Watson and Victoria Palmer then securing a hard-fought win over Pavlova and Helland-Hansen, coming through 15-13 in the decider.

But Watson and Palmer had already done enough to go through, along with Beth Morgan and Alice Brand, while number one women’s seeds Kirsty Star and Alice Jagielska will also have to do things the harder way – going through the Round of 12 – after losing out to Scottish wildcards Kathryn Barbour and Rachel Morrison.

While the English duo have played, and showed promise, on the Beach Pro Tour this year, the more experienced side from north of the border who have played together much more frequently, showed all their composure and guile to edge a 21-19, 21-19 success and reach the quarter-finals.

England’s other women’s team, teenagers Maia Darling, 19, and Molly Quinn, who turned 16 earlier this month, may have lost both their matches, but they will have drawn much from playing against older and more experienced opponents.

All four of the eliminator matches on the men’s side saw Three Lions pairings triumphant in the shape of Dunbavin and Morgan, Haydn Lawson and Peter Soczewka, Makowski and Cosgrove and Andrew van Rensburg and Harry Jones, sealing their places in the Round of 12 in the process.

The final guaranteed quarter-final spot in the women’s draw was clinched by the Finnish female duo Essi Nirhamo and Elina Pirttimäki, who won 15-10 in a decider against England in the penultimate match of the day.

Their countrywomen going through to the Round of 12 are Maragda Casagrande and Mira Järveläinen, Peppina Mäenpää and Ester Hirvonen and Milja Henriksson and Sara Tuominen, while on the men’s side Veeti Viljamaa and Aleksi Hänninen and Pippo and Pulkkinen made it a satisfactory end to the day for the Finns as the sun came out.

Sweden’s only team, female duo, Alexandra Söderkvist and Linnea Bengtsson, found life tough in women’s Pool D as they were outgunned by their two Finnish opponents.

It was also a tough day at the office for Northern Irish men’s pair Paddy Dally and Nicholas Skansen in men’s Pool A, who, despite plenty of effort and determination, were unable to register a set in their two defeats.

Round of 12 draws

Women’s here.

Men’s here.

Report by Beth Owen. Images by Simon Clarke.

View the NEVZA Beach England 2025 home page here.

Follow the day two and day three action live on the Volleyball England YouTube Channel here.