Volleyball Empowerment supported Australia triumph at Mollymook Futures

• Australian beach volleyball has been allocated CHF 180,000 of Volleyball Empowerment support

• An all-Australian men’s final delights the home crowd in Mollymook

• An Aussie teen on top of the podium with second Beach Pro Tour gold

• Next Futures event takes place this week in New Zealand, from 7 – 10 March

Australian beneficiaries of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support picked up four of the six medals at the first Beach Pro Tour stop of the year. Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis (pictured in the main photo; credits: Volleyball Australia) defeated Paul Burnett and Jack Pearse in an all-Australian men’s final at the Mollymook Futures in Australia. Jordan Hoppe and James Shaw of the USA completed the podium with bronze. Australia claimed two medals in the women’s tournament too. Stefanie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic took the gold, while Georgia Johnson and Jasmine Fleming earned the bronze. The silver went to Japan’s Suzuka Hashimoto and Reika Murakami.

Volleyball Australia has so far been allocated a total of CHF 947,000 worth of Volleyball Empowerment support. Of that amount, CHF 180,000 has been tagged for coach support of the national beach volleyball teams in both genders. Australian Olympian Joshua Slack was in charge of the women’s duos on a Volleyball Empowerment grant for seven months, while Joey Yigit is on a 12-month Volleyball Empowerment coach support assistance at the helm of the country’s men’s pairs.

Top-seeded Nicolaidis and Carracher lived up to their status and cruised through the tournament without losing a single set in five matches played. The duo, who won the historic first-ever Futures tournament in Coolangatta, Australia two years ago, have now added a second medal to their Beach Pro Tour record. It is gold again and earned on home sand again.

Nicolaidis and Carracher’s victory run took them through a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) semifinal win over 11th-seeded Banlue Nakprakhong and Wachirawit Muadpha of Thailand and peaked with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) sweep of the gold medal showdown against their second-seeded compatriots Burnett and Pearse.

The Mollymook silver was Burnett and Pearse’s second Beach Pro Tour medal as a pair. At their debut at the last Tour Futures stop of 2023 in Geelong, they topped the podium with gold. Burnett and Pearse lost to Hoppe and Shaw in the Pool B winners’ match and had to take the long route to the semifinals, where they had another encounter with the 10th-seeded Americans and secured a turnaround 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-13) victory.

At their first Beach Pro Tour appearance as a duo, Hoppe and Shaw claimed the bronze after a 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-13) win over Banlue and Wachirawit in the third-place game.

In the women’s tournament, third-seeded Fejes and Milutinovic reached the semifinals on a perfect run of three straight-set victories. Moreover, in an all-Australian duel for a spot in the final, they overcame the resistance of second-seeded compatriots Johnson and Fleming after a three-set battle, 2-1 (21-19, 15-21, 15-10). The gold medal match against seventh-seeded Suzuka and Reika also went to three sets after 21-18 and 20-22 in the first two sets, but a Suzuka knee injury forced the team from Japan to withdraw during the tie-breaker. Consequently, 19-year-old Fejes and 22-year-old Milutinovic claimed their second Beach Pro Tour medal, after the Coolangatta Futures gold in 2023.

To reach the final, Suzuka and Reika achieved four consecutive wins, three of which were three-set duels. In the semifinals, they mounted an impressive comeback from a set down against 13th-seeded Alaina Chacon and Mariah Whalen from the USA to celebrate a 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-9) victory and secure their first-ever Beach Pro Tour podium.

Fleming and Johnson claimed a 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) win over Chacon and Whalen in the third-place match to complete the podium and improve their Beach Pro Tour medal collection to one gold, two silvers and two bronzes.

28 men’s teams and 24 women’s teams representing 12 different countries took part in the Mollymook Futures. The next Futures event will take place in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand from 7 to 10 March.

Mollymook Futures: all results