Challenge - Nuvali, PHI - 2025

From qualifiers to champions! Parkkinen & Prihti triumph in Nuvali

Lithuania’s Dumbauskaite & Grudzinskaite earn silver, Australia’s Fejes & Fleming take bronze

Published 04:14, 19 Oct 2025

Finland’s Anniina Parkkinen & Valma Prihti travelled the road from Wednesday’s qualifications all the way to the top of the women’s podium on Sunday, after scoring seven wins in a row at the Nuvali Challenge in the Philippines. It was not only their first gold, but their first medal of any color on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour together.

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Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite & Gerda Grudzinskaite collected their sixth Beach Pro Tour medal together, but once again, they stopped short of claiming their first gold. They now have four silvers and two bronzes in their Beach Pro Tour medal collection.

Australia’s Stefanie Fejes & Jasmine Fleming completed the podium with bronze, their first Beach Pro Tour medal since they teamed up for the start of this season.

The 2025 Nuvali Challenge women’s podium

Parkkinen & Prihti, seeded 25^th in the 32-team main draw, came back from a set down in Sunday’s final against 18^th-seeded Dumbauskaite & Grudzinskaite to celebrate a 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 15-11) victory. Prihti was on fire, contributing five kill blocks and four aces to finish with a match-high 25 points towards the successful outcome. Parkkinen added another 10 points, all in swings. Grudzinskaite fired five aces towards a team-high 20 points, while Dumbauskaite put away another 13 points, including two aces and a block.

Parkkinen/Prihti vs. Dumbauskaite/Grudzinskaite G. - Match Highlights, 10/19/2025

The bronze medal game before that also offered a turnaround three-setter. 10^th-seeded Fejes & Fleming secured their spot on the podium with a 2-1 (13-21, 21-15, 15-13) comeback against sixth-seeded Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova of Czechia. Fejes led the way with 21 points, including two aces. Fleming impressed with five kill blocks and three aces to finish with 19 points. Kylie also put in a brilliant blocking effort to deliver seven stuffs, in addition to two aces and nine spike kills, while Maixnerova added another 17 points in offense.

In the first semifinal on Sunday morning, Dumbauskaite & Grudzinskaite achieved the only straight-set win of the day, a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout of Fleming & Fejes, with a match-high 19 points from Dumbauskaite including five blocks and three aces.

Then, Parkkinen & Prihti put together a 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-10) semifinal victory over Kylie & Maixnerova. Parkkinen spearheaded the Finnish team with a match-high 27 points, all in attack, while Prihti shined with four blocks and three aces towards a 17-point total.