NEVZA Beach England day two round-up - split of nations make women's semis

Among that number will be the host nation's number one seeds, Kirsty Star and Katie Keefe, who delighted the home support with a skilled and determined display to reach the last four. 

Having come through their pool as winners on the first day of action, they ended up facing the second seeds, Tale Fosseli and Solveig Sunde, who had been beaten by their Norwegian compatriots in their opening match. 

The English pair took charge of the first set from the start and never relinquished their strangehold to take it 21-17. 

But they had to do it the hard way in the second, trailing 11-6 at one point and facing a set point at 20-19 down. 

However, they then reeled off three points in a row, with a Keefe monster block and her serve hitting the net tape to seal the deal at 22-20. 

"It was a tough quarter-final match-up, but to win the tournament you have to beat everybody, so I'm really, really proud of us," said Star. 

"We stayed really aggressive – that's how we train and that's how we played when we were out there. 

Keefe added: "I had so much fun playing... you want to play on your home turf and enjoy it. 

"I feel like we are really building something and we're super grateful to have a whole team behind us this year. 

"Our priority is not instant success, but to tick off all the things we need to become a more successful team." 

There was no joy, though, for fellow English pair Alice Jagielska and Isabelle Tucker, whose journey came to an end at the last eight stage. 

They had come through their pool comfortably, but found Juste Derkintyte and Ellen Lindqvist to have too much for them, winning 21-17, 21-15. 

The Swedes had made their way through to the quarter-final stage by beating another English pair, Martha Bullen and Ella Watson 21-18, 21-13 in the Round of 12. 

An excellent game ensued between Sweden's Lina and Sofia Russo and Finland's Sara Sinisalo and Maisa Kyröläinen as the two Scandinavian sides gave it everything they had in a bid to reach the semi-finals. 

The Swedes landed the first blow to take the first set 21-16, only for their opponents to rally and reel off the next two 21-12, 15-10. 

Earlier the Russo sisters had lined up that match with a tight Round of 12 victory over Norway's Vilde Hobøl and Oda Skaug (23-21, 21-19). 

One of the pairs to watch could well be Melina Mol and Julie Thelle, who cruised through to the semis with their third successive triumph. 

Melina – sister of Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Anders Mol – was a winner at Bridlington last year in the Youth U20 section along with Fosseli, and she again showed a strong liking for competing on the East Yorkshire coast. 

The Norwegians showed no mercy in dispatching Scotland's Alexis Crusey and Lynne Beattie 21-8, 21-9 in 26 minutes. 

Despite that result, the Scots could still be pleased with their run in the tournament after overcoming Millie Constable and Molly Quinn 21-7, 21-11 to advance from the Round of 12. 

Men's matches 

What was arguably the match of the tournament so far saw number two seeds Jonah and Sebastian Kjemperud of Norway save four match points before winning a titanic tussle with Sweden's Martin Appelgren and Valdemar Jacobsson Orrbeck. 

The brothers seemed in control as they cruised through the first set 21-14 against opponents who had  earlier beaten Yorkshire and England duo Maks Makowski and Josh Cosgrove in the Round of 12 (21-13, 21-14).  

But the Swedes showed they were made of stern stuff and not only hit back to level, taking the second 21-18, but also forging ahead in the decider. 

They took an early 5-1 lead and kept their noses in front for much of it, but could not hammer home their advantage at 14-12, or three other match points that followed, before the Norwegians finished it off at 18-16 with a Sebastian monster block. 

They will be joined by their compatriots Marius Pande and Magnus Helregud who made it three wins from three for the event by extinguishing Denmark's hopes. 

They were always in command to post a 21-12, 21-15 success against Joakim Engelbrecht and Villads Napier, who had earlier seen off Norway's Jørn Gamlemoen and Svein Solhaug with a straightforward 21-14, 21-8 triumph. 

The other two quarter-finals featured home hopes - and both exciting matches went the distance. 

The first of them saw teenagers Lewis Bunton and Bailey Harsum – who are also entering the NEVZA Youth U20 Championships later in the Bridlington fortnight – go toe to toe with Finnish brothers Arttur and Valtter Pennanen. 

The Finns had recorded back-to-back victories to go straight into the quarters, while the English duo had come through the Round of 12 with a straight sets success over Wales' Conor Robins and Matthew Pollock (21-13, 21-17). 

But they found the former NEVZA Youth U18 champions a much tougher prospect, in spite of edging the first set 21-19. 

That said, the Pennanen brothers looked as if they would wrap up the match as they led deep in the second. 

But they failed to take advantage of no less than five match points, allowing the Bunton-Harsum partnership to ride the way of a supportive home crowd to nick the marathon set 26-24. 

With all to play for in the third, the Englishmen went 6-0 up and used that cushion to head off a fightback and come through 15-11, needing only one of three match points to clinch it. 

Bunton said: "There was a lot of adrenaline running in that match to be honest, but I'm so glad we managed to pull through towards the end.

Harsum added: "Our coach (Sam Dunbavin) was key with the strategy in the time outs and we wouldn't have won it without him."

Just as absorbing, certainly in the early stages, was the all-English quarter-final between reigning champions Enrique Bello and Niko Gleed and Peter Soczewka and Harry Jones. 

Soczewka – who is playing out in the US for Purdue Fort Wayne – and Jones – a regular and very successful player on the UK Beach Tour – showed their early intentions and deservedly took the first set 21-18. 

But Bello and Gleed did not win in 2025 for no reason and showed their resilience by bouncing back quickly to bag the second set 21-12 and level things up.   

From there, the more established duo powered away and eventually wrapped up a 15-6 victory, keeping their title defence well on track. 

The results leave two intriguing Norway versus England matches in the men's semi-finals tomorrow. 

Images by Simon Clarke and Ewan Cameron 

Don't forget you can watch all the quarter-final action for FREE by coming down to Belvedere Beach in Bridlington from 9am, or alternatively you can catch the action live on the Volleyball England YouTube Channel.