American pairs collect the men’s bronze and all women’s medals at the Beach Pro Tour season opener
- Fuller & O’Dea and Hartles & McManaway of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported New Zealand earn men’s gold and silver at Mount Maunganui Futures
- USA’s Urrutia & Bradford claim the men’s bronze at the Beach Pro Tour season opener
- Three American pairs – Whitmarsh & Newberry, Tan & Parrish and Chacon & Chacon – line up on the women’s podium in New Zealand
The first Beach Pro Tour event for 2025 came to a conclusion on Sunday in New Zealand (main photo credits: volleyballnz.org.nz). Two home teams, benefitting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support, met in the men’s final at the Mount Maunganui Futures, with Bradley Fuller & Ben O’Dea celebrating as winners and Thomas Hartles & John McManaway taking the silver. The men’s bronze as well as all three spots on the women’s podium went to pairs from the United States. The first women’s gold medals of the season were claimed by American qualifiers Jaden Whitmarsh & Devon Newberry.
New Zealand’s beach volleyball department has been allocated a total of CHF 396,000 of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support, in addition to CHF 28,000 worth of beach volleyball equipment, and the country’s national teams have been training under the guidance of Jason Lochhead.
Fourth-seeded Bradley Fuller & Ben O’Dea delighted the home fans by sweeping all five matches of their emphatic quest to the trophy in straight sets. In the semifinals, the New Zealanders achieved a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win over fifth-seeded Americans Jake Urrutia & Derek Bradford, and went on to master a hard-fought 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) victory over top-seeded compatriots Thomas Hartles & John McManaway in the gold medal showdown. The Mount Maunganui gold was Fuller & O’Dea’s first Beach Pro Tour medal as a duo.
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In the other semifinal, Hartles & McManaway claimed a 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) win over 12th-seeded Oliver Merritt & Jed Walker of Australia. The home favorites had a rough start to the tournament, finishing second in Pool A after playing two tie-breaker matches. But then, they won their next three games without dropping another set on the way to the final, to celebrate a podium finish at their first Beach Pro Tour appearance together.
In the third place match, Urrutia & Bradford produced a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) victory over Merritt & Walker and also crowned the pairing’s Beach Pro Tour debut with a medal.
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American duos imposed a sweeping domination over the women’s tournament and occupied all four of the semifinal spots. Amazingly, three of these four US pairs started their quests in Mount Maunganui from Thursday’s qualifications, and two of them met in the trophy match.
Jaden Whitmarsh & Devon Newberry played a total of six matches from the qualifiers to the final and dropped only a set on the way to their first gold and second medal on the Beach Pro Tour. It came at their second appearance on the Tour together, after the bronze they earned at their debut at December’s Pompano Beach Futures. Seeded 12th in the main draw, Whitmarsh & Newberry crowned their impeccable run towards the Mount Maunganui final with a tight 2-0 (21-17, 28-26) semifinal win over sixth-seeded compatriots Alaina Chacon & Morgan Chacon. After losing their first set of the tournament in the final against fellow Americans Kamila Tan & Samantha Parrish, they battled their way back to a 2-1 (10-21, 21-18, 16-14) turnaround to triumph as champions.
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Tan & Parrish themselves started from the qualifiers and, after four straight-set wins, met another pair of American qualifiers, Macy Jerger & Megan Rice, in the semifinals. Seeded 14th in the main draw, Tan & Parrish came back from a set down to defeat 16th-seeded Jerger & Rice by 2-1 (16-21, 21-15, 15-11) and decorate the duo’s Beach Pro Tour debut with a silver medal.
The all-American bronze medal game also offered a three-set battle, in which Chacon & Chacon squeezed out a 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 18-16) victory and picked up their first Tour medal together.
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26 men’s teams and 23 women’s teams representing 11 different countries took part in the Mount Maunganui Futures. The next Futures event will be held in Coolangatta, Australia from March 26 to 30. Before that, the first Challenge tournament of the season, the Yucatan Challenge, will take place in Mexico from March 19 to 23.
Mount Maunganui Futures: all results and standings
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