NEVZA Youth Beach Championships 2025 – day three round-up

The Scandinavian nation - renowned for their production line of top-class beach players - showed that there is plenty of promise for the future as they took all but one of the spots on the top step of the podium – and a bronze medal to boot.

In perfect volleyball conditions after the previous day’s rain, the cream of the field showcased their skills both to the watching support on the beach and those following things on the Volleyball England YouTube Channel’s live stream.

The top two nations in each category also have the added satisfaction of claiming a qualifying place for the CEV European Beach Championships 2025 (in Madrid, Spain in August for the U20 players and in Corigliano Rossano, Italy in September for the U18 players.

The first final to be contested was the Women’s U18 gold medal match between teams from Finland and Norway.

The Finnish seventh seeds, Iris Havulinna and Nelli Waldén, came out firing and managed to bag the first set 21-18.

But their opponents Stine Finholth and Oda Skarlund gradually worked their way back into the match and, crucially, edged a tight second set 25-23 when they eventually closed it out after spurning several set points.

That paved the way for a strong showing in the deciding set when the number three seeds turned up the heat to run out 15-10 victors.

“In the first set there were some small mistakes and the second set was also close, but we managed to take it and get back in the match from there,” said Finholth. “It’s been nice to play in various weather - rain, wind and sun.”

Skarlund added: “We started serving really well at the start of the third set and then we let them make the mistakes. It’s been a really good experience and the set-up has been amazing.”

The Women’s U20 match paired Sweden’s Emilia Saxne and Sanna Madestam against Tale Fosseli and Sofia Mol of Norway, with the former having won 21-19, 21-19 in an earlier Pool B clash.

This time, though, the Norwegians, dominated the first set, powering ahead to seal it 21-12 and though they had to dig deep in the second, they eventually nicked it 24-22.

For Fosseli, it was a second win in as many years after she came to Bridlington and conquered in 2024, while Mol is following in the successful footsteps of her brother and world number one, Anders.

“Melina played really well,” said Fosseli. “We lost 2-0 to the Swedish team yesterday, so we wanted to get our revenge today and it was great to have my mum and dad here watching!”
Mol added: “We were ready to fight from the start and we had an amazing start, so we just kept that going throughout the game as that set the tone.”

Next up were the Men’s U18 final were pairings from Norway and Finland, and it was Ludwig Ringøen and Sebastian Kjermperud of the former who were, in the end, to celebrate a straight sets victory.

Try as they might, opponents Konsta Viljamaa and Niilo Kilpinen just could not make an impression against the two giant figures, whose finishing power and blocking proved to be too much, seeing them to a 21-11, 21-19 victory.

Kjemperud, whose brother Jonah, was a winner at Bridlington last year, said: “We’re happy with the tournament, very good. We were very stable even though we had not had that much training together.

“There’s a massive difference playing in NEVZA from the Norwegian tour, so we are pleased to be winners.”

“It was a lots of fun,” added Ringøen. “It was a really good first set from us, but we got off to a bad start in the second set and had to work our way back into it.”

It was Denmark who broke Norway’s gold rush as the 2023 European champions, Villads Napier and Andreas Brinck, who excelled throughout the championship, again shone brightly in the final.

Facing Finland’s Veeti Viljamaa and Aleksi Hänninen they played superbly all around the court to close out a 21-16, 21-18, finishing things off with a monster block.

It was another hard luck story for Finnish team, who were unable to convert any of the six semi-finalists they boasted into a gold medal, but it was nevertheless a fantastic three days for them, picking up five medals in total.

Afterwards, the victorious Brinck said: “We are really, really proud to win for Denmark. We are a pretty physical team and we used that this week, particularly against some of the smaller teams.”

It was a really good final match for us,” said Napier. “We started out really well and played really good sideout, and the first set was quite comfortable.

“The second set there was a lot of long rallies with good skills and in the end it was a bit tight, but we managed to take the win which is very nice.”

The early afternoon bronze medal matches saw players from all countries leave it all on the sand in their bid to get on the podium.

Maisa Kyröläinen and Anna Laaksonen of Finland secured bronze in the Women’s U18 category as they kept up the pressure throughout to get the better of England’s Tilly Hutton and Robyn Clifford (21-13, 21-11).

The all-Finland Women’s U20 bronze medal contest went the distance before Milja Henriksson and Sara Tuominen beat their compatriots Peppiina Mäenpää and Ester Hirvonen, coming back from a set down to win 16-21, 21-15, 15-12.

There was disappointment for England in both men’s bronze medal matches in their bid to earn a place on the podium, as both their pairs were beaten.

The Men’s U18 clash saw Luca Robinson and Lewis Bunton looking good in the first set as they led 20-17, only for the Swedes of Almblad Engvall and Henrik Brus to reel off five points in a row to take it 22-20.

That paved the way for a much easier second set for the Scandinavians, who saw it out 21-15.

Zak Maghur and local player Dylan Parsons were also outgunned, as they felt the full force of Johannes Ringøen and Tobias Pedersen’s attacking prowess in a 21-11, 21-14 success by the Norwegians.

In the keenly-contested morning semi-finals, Finholth and Skarland came out firing and blitzed their way to an emphatic victory over England’s Hutton and Clifford in the Women’s U18 category, the latter having excelled to reach the last four.

But on this occasion they were overpowered by the eventual champions amid a volley of aces as their opponents recorded a 21-6, 21-5 success.

The other semi-final was closely contested before Havulinna and Waldén turned things around from a pool defeat to beat their countrywomen and number two seeds Kyröläinen and Laaksonen.

In the first clash, the number seven seeds had lost agonisingly 16-14 in the final set, but this time they held their nerve to close out the tie break 21-19, 16-21, 15-11.

The U20 category saw two tense three set matches and both teams who had played in Pool B eventually advance to the final.

Fossil and Mol dropped the first set against Finland’s Mäenpää and Hirvonen, but fought back superbly to take the next two (18-21, 21-18, 15-9).

The same was the case for Swedes Sane and Madestam, who were behind early in their match with Henriksson and Tuominen but stormed back to book their place in the final, prevailing 17-21, 21-17, 15-11 in the early morning sun.

The Men’s U18 category brought two more high-class semi-final contests.

England’s Lewis Bunton and Luca Robinson were hoping to get England into a final and came back from 7-1 down to win the opening set 22-20.

However, Viljamaa and Kilpinen were far from beaten and, after taking the second set 21-18, pulled away in the decisive tie break to claim it 15-5.

Norway’s Ringøen and Kjemperud got off to a great start against the number one seeds Teddie Engvall and Brus, of Sweden, taking the first set 21-16.

But after the Swedes hit back to take the second 21-17, the giant pair had to dig deep to come through the decider 15-12.  

Both the Men’s U20 semi-final matches were decided in straight sets.

The run of Maghur and Parsons in their bid to reach the final was ended by Viljamaa and Hänninen who had too much for their centre court opponents (21-9, 21-14).

Brinck and Napier were made to work harder, but they eventually came out on top against Norway’s number two seeds Ringøen and Pedersen, the latter set by just two points (21-15, 23-21).

The day also saw a Queen & King of the Court event held for those players who had been eliminated before the semi-final stages.

Four of the seven winners were from Denmark, with the others from England, Iceland and Sweden.

The event - and the Senior event that preceded it – has been hosted in conjunction with East Riding of Borough Council and Skyball, and Volleyball England would like to thank both for their continued support.

Report by Matt Halfpenny. Images by Jon Cornish.

View the NEVZA Beach England 2025 home page here.

Watch back all the action on the Volleyball England YouTube Channel here.