Andorra and Iceland triumph at historic SCA event on Welsh soil

Teams from Andorra and Iceland emerged victorious from the CEV Small Countries Association (SCA) U17 Beach Volleyball Championships held in Cardiff, which counted as a qualifier for next year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU18 as well. 

Day 2 made Saturday’s epic entrée of matches look like a playground, as every team persevered through yet another humid and hot day in the sand at Cardiff Beach Volleyball Club. A fresh 9 a.m. opener on Centre Court, Court One, and an additional Court 2 at the venue hosted all ‘Round of’ games with the winning teams progressing to the finals in the afternoon. Battles on court were fierce. By the time lunch was served at the club the women’s bracket was waiting for the much-awaited semi-finals game between the favourites, Iceland, taking on the Faroe Islands and Ireland. On the men’s side, the Andorrans and the Faroese were set to face each other in the finals as they had proven themselves worthy by winning every game they played, bringing them up to five wins and zero losses each. The final battle between them would decide the winner at 5pm. 

After lunch the women’s semi-finals resulted in hard-fought battles with a rollercoaster theme in all matches. This led to a gold medal match between Iceland’s Þorbjörg Rún Emilsdóttir and Heiða Guðmundsdóttir versus the Faroese duo Anna Katrina i Haraldstovu and Tova Sigurdsdóttir Nielsen. The bronze medal match featured Ireland’s Carmen Conway/Maria Clara Souza Coutinho taking on Iceland’s Asa Kristjansdóttir and Bergþóra Emma Sigurðardóttir.

In the women’s final, the Icelandic team began with a convincing lead against the Faroese and maintained the pressure. Iceland were relentless in their defence, displayed solid service reception, and showed consistent point-scoring ability even on their own serve. Haraldstovu and Nielsen attempted their very best in the first set but it fell in Iceland’s favour as they won it 21-9. However, set 2 told a different story. The Faroese team took a four-point lead in the second set, with Nielsen finding success with her superb court vision to catch Iceland out on attack. Back and forth the teams went with Iceland catching up midway through the set to tie it at 15 apiece. Iceland then unlocked their winning strategy with Emilsdóttir proving unstoppable at the net and scoring with almost every swing. She and Gudmundsdóttir were ruthless in all aspects of their game, leading Iceland to take the second set and subsequently win the match 21-9, 21-17. The Most Valuable Player award went to  Emilsdóttir, who was Iceland’s top scorer and an undeniable presence at the net which was enabled by her quality teammate. 

The men’s final started at 5 pm as the last match of the day. Everyone gathered round to watch a stunning gold medal opportunity and a chance for their nation to secure a spot in the U18 European Championships 2027. A teeth-gritting battle began between Andorra’s Lucas Prenas alongside Ot Comas versus Faroese Elias Jensen with Kaj Johannesen. Andorra took an early lead in the first set and sustained it for the majority of the set never dropping below a four-point advantage to win it 21-11. Then, much like the women’s final, the second set inspired the Faroese to kick into gear with a tie game for the majority of set 2. Both Elias Jensen and Ot Comas were powerful at the net, delivering super spikes. But, even with motivation and the pressure of a must-win set, the duo from the north could not contain Comas and Prenas of the south who picked their rivals apart with powerful spikes and clever shots finishing the competition victorious by winning set 2 21-18. MVP went to Ot Comas who maintained his quality throughout the match and never lost focus, even with an injured knee.

As the debut for both Cardiff Beach Volleyball and Wales on the international Beach Volleyball scene, the event proved to be high quality, full of community and dedication to make players’, coaches’ and spectators’ lives as simple and as stress-free as possible. Players went from enemies to best of friends and this tournament has surely enabled all players and federations to further their team spirit. They now know that Cardiff Beach Volleyball Centre is the place to be for high-level, high-stakes, and well-covered Beach Volleyball.

Thanks from the organisers, owners and managers go to all the volunteers from the Welsh Volleyball community who gave up their time and effort to ensure this event was something to be incredibly proud of and without them the quality of the event would not have been as it was. In addition the referee manager Debra Smart and scoring manager Di receive many thanks from all members of the core team for the same reasons. 

All games were streamed live on YouTube where you can watch full replays with graphics and info on every game to learn more about the players themselves. 

Photos courtesy of Fernanda Bergues