Futures - Mount Maunganui, NZL - 2026

Duos from Australia and Romania snatch first Beach Pro Tour golds

Pairs from USA, New Zealand and Japan also make the podiums in Mount Maunganui

Published 05:58, 08 Feb 2026

Solomon Bushby & Justin Schumann’s gold medal moment in Mount Maunganui (source: Volleyball New Zealand)

Australia’s Solomon Bushby & Justin Schumann and Romania’s Beata Vaida & Francesca Alupei marched through the first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event of the year undefeated to snatch the Mount Maunganui Futures gold medals, the first ones ever on the tour for each of these two pairs. Two United States teams completed the men’s podium in New Zealand. Gage Basey & Thomas Hurst earned silver, while Diego Perez & David Wieczorek grabbed bronze. The women’s runner-up spot went to home favorites Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald, joined by Japan’s Sakura Ito & Mayu Sawame on the podium.

Francesca Alupei on the block during their Mount Maunganui semifinal (source: Volleyball New Zealand)

Third-seeded Aussies Solomon Bushby & Justin Schumann dropped only two sets in five matches played on the way to the top of the men’s podium in New Zealand. In Sunday’s semifinals, the put together a 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) win over seventh-seeded Nassim Malki & Yu Takuma of Japan, and in the gold medal showdown, they delivered a 2-1 (21-16, 26-28, 15-11) victory over fifth-seeded Americans Gage Basey & Thomas Hurst to celebrate not just their first gold, but their first medal of any color from a world-level tournament.

Basey & Hurst also reached the final unbeaten. Their four-game winning run was crowned with a tough 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) sweep of the all-American semifinal against ninth-seeded Diego Perez & David Wieczorek, who came through from the qualifications. The Mount Maunganui silver was 21-year-old Hurst’s first ever medal on the Beach Pro Tour, and second for his 22-year-old teammate Basey.

Perez & Wieczorek bounced back with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) shutout of Malki & Takuma in the bronze medal playoff to celebrate their first Beach Pro Tour podium.

Romania’s Beata Vaida & Francesca Alupei made a victorious run of five consecutive wins in five matches played in Mount Maunganui to triumph on top of a Beach Pro Tour podium for the first time. Previously, Vaida had one gold from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour back in 2018. In their semifinal, the third-seeded Romanian duo achieved a 2-1 (21-16, 13-21, 15-11) victory over second-seeded Sakura Ito & Mayu Sawame of Japan. In the gold medal showdown, Vaida & Alupei disappointed the home crowd with a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-13) comeback against top-seeded Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald of New Zealand.

Before that, the Kiwis also persevered through a three-set semifinal battle to claim a 2-1 (20-22, 21-18, 15-11) semifinal win over 12^th-seeded qualifiers Kelly Belardi & Charlotta Bell of USA and secure their second Beach Pro Tour medal as a team, after the Nuvali Futures gold in 2025.

The third-place game produced three sets of action and was decided in a tie-breaker as well. Sakura & Sawame mounted a 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-11) turnaround against Belardi & Bell and also picked up their second tour medal, after the Nuvali Futures silver in 2025.