NEVZA Youth Beach Championships 2025 – day one round-up

With countries competing for European Championships qualification across two age groups in women’s and men’s sections, 48 matches were played throughout the day.

As the weather and wind varied throughout the day, from warm sun to heavy cloud and gusty bursts to almost still conditions, the players maintained an excellent level of play throughout on the back of a high level of determination and no little skill. 

In the U18 women’s category, where there were four pools of three teams, things went very much to the form book as the four top seeds all advanced straight to the quarter-finals as pool winners.

In Pool A, number one seeds Lauren Thorn and Molly Quinn led the charge for England with a 2-1 success over Denmark and straight sets win over Iceland.

Maisa Kyröläinen and Anna Laaksonen, the Finnish number two seeds, headed up Pool B after 2-0 wins over their fellow countrywomen and England.

Pool C’s victors were Norway’s third seeds Stine Finholth and Oda Skarlund as they proved too strong for England and Iceland.

An extra fourth team in Pool D saw fourth seeds Maja Vestegaard and Mie Bertelsen of Denmark finish top of the pile.

As with the other age categories using the same format - Men’s U18 and Men’s U20 -  there is still the chance for the second and third placed teams to advance when they contest a Round of 12 match, with the winners going into the quarter-finals.

The exception to that is the Women’s U20 section, where the 10 teams have been divided into two pools of five teams.

They are instead playing to finish in the top two, who will go through to a crossover semi-finals, with the other teams going out.

Because of the additional number of matches, these pools are being played over two days, with the first raft of matches being played on day one.

The two pools took contrasting paths, with Pool A seeing two teams emerge as the most likely to advance.

Tale Fosseli - an U20 winner in Bridlington last year - and Sofia Mol - sister of men’s world number one Anders - showed why they are number one seeds by reeling off three victories, all by comprehensive margins.

Swedes Emilia Saxne and Sanna Madestam only played twice and will compete three times tomorrow (Wednesday), but were equally impressive in their showings.

In contrast, Pool B remains much more open, as, while Finnish number two seeds Peppiina Mäenpää and Ester Hirvonen recorded three wins for a 100% record, there are three teams behind them with one win each.

The day was not without its difficulties for the pair, though, as they were forced to save five match points before coming through to win 16-14 by taking seven points in a row against their compatriots Milja Henriksson and Sara Tuominen.

That leaves Alice Jagielska and Natasha Frost (England), Auður Pétursdóttir and Hrefna Marinosdóttir (Iceland) and Milja Henriksson and Sara Tuominen (Finland) to likely fight it out for second spot.

In the Men’s U18 category, number one seeds Teddie Almblad Engvall and Henrik Brus of Sweden came up trumps in Pool A, as they outgunned local favourites Maks Makowski and Josh Cosgrove as well as the pair from Iceland.

There were few problems, too, for the second seeds Konsta Viljamaa and Niilo Kilpinen of FInland, who confidently dispatched pairs from Denmark and England.

Sebastian Kjemperud, who took bronze in the NEVZA Senior event held in Bridlington at the weekend, was back with a new partner, Ludvig Ringøen, to boss Pool C against their Icelandic and English opponents.

And in Pool D, last year’s Men’s U18 winner, Lewis Bunton, progressed straight to the Last 8 in partnership with Luca Robnison after a triumph over Iceland and then Denmark being unable to take to the court because of an unfortunate injury.

In the Men’s U20 category, Pool A proved to be the most hotly contested, with all three teams winning one and losing one of their matches.

The number one seed pairing of Max Carolan and Stuart Perry looked to be in cruise control as they beat Lucas Rijvers and James Ingham and led by a set against Icelanders Jökull Jóhannsson and Riccardo Meucci, who had lost to the other English pair.

However, a brilliant come back from those in blue and white saw them first force a tie breaker and then win in 15-10.

Despite that setback, Carolan and Perry still go through to the quarters courtesy of a slightly superior points ratio.

Pool B saw Norway as the dominant force, with second seeds Johannes Ringøen and Tobias Pedersen scoring victories over England and Iceland.

There were two Danish teams in Pool C and with both beating the opposition for England, it was a straight shoot-out between them for an automatic quarter-final place.

In the end, it was Villads Napier and Andreas Brinck, who got the better of Villads Lundby Andersen and Anton Hansen in straight sets to gain team bragging rights and avoid an extra Round of 12 fixture.

Pool D saw NEVZA Senior competitors Veeti Viljamaa and Aleksi Hänninen team up to coast through courtesy of emphatic wins over Iceland and England.

Report by Matt Halfpenny. Images by Jon Cornish, Ewan Cameron and Matt Halfpenny

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.