Carracher & Nicolaidis and Fejes & Milutinovic win gold at Mollymook Futures
Izac Carracher & Mark Nicolaidis in spectacular action (source: Volleyball Australia)
Izac Carracher & Mark Nicolaidis defeated Paul Burnett & Jack Pearse in an all-Australian men’s final at the first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour of the year, the Mollymook Futures in Australia. Jordan Hoppe & James Shaw of the United States completed the podium with bronze. Australia claimed two medals in the women’s tournament too. Stefanie Fejes & Jana Milutinovic took the gold, while Georgia Johnson & Jasmine Fleming earned the bronze. The silver went to Japan’s Suzuka Hashimoto & Reika Murakami.
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All-Australian clash in men’s final
Top-seeded Nicolaidis & Carracher lived up to their status and cruised through the tournament without losing a single set in five matches played. This way the Aussies, 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 & Carracher’s victory run took them through a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) semifinal win over 11th-seeded Banlue Nakprakhong & 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 & Pearse.
“We knew they were going to bring out a battle,” Carracher told volleyball.org.au after the final. “We know each other so well. We’ve played each other at least a hundred times already this year so we knew they were going to bring it and really happy to get the job done.”
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The Mollymook silver was Burnett & 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 & Pearse lost to Hoppe & 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 got back at them with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-13) turnaround.
At their first Beach Pro Tour appearance as a duo, Hoppe & Shaw claimed the bronze after a 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-13) victory over Banlue & Wachirawit in the third-place game.
Aussie teen snatches second Beach Pro Tour gold
Third-seeded Fejes & Milutinovic reached the…
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