Home town heroes and new partnerships shine at 2026 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Glenelg – Volleyball Australia

Home town heroes and new partnerships shine at 2026 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Glenelg

Hometown heroes Jack Pearse and D’Artagnan Potts have taken out the first gold medal of the 2026 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Glenelg today.

The young South Australian duo claimed the win against training partners Ben Hood and Olympian Thomas Hodges, to kick start their 2026 season.

“We’re super stoked…a little bit of de ja vu. Last year in Canberra, the first leg of the 2025 ABVT we won the gold,” Pearse said.

“So it’s a good start to the season and hoping we can continue it on for the rest of the year,” he said.

It was an extra special day for Pearse today, who also celebrated his 24th birthday.

“Darty said before it was a pretty good present, getting the win today,” Pearse said.

“I was struggling a little bit with my serving but it was amazing to get it done, especially today,” he said.

Queensland’s Jasmine Fleming and WA’s Lizzie Alchin stood atop of the Women’s Elite podium, defeating Aussie Stefie Fejes and German Anna Grune in a tight three set affair.

“We’re so happy – it’s our first tournament (playing) together, we didn’t really know how it was going to go, and we were a bit nervous coming into the weekend,” Fleming said.

“But really nice play some good games, and a fun last match against Stefie and Anna, so it’s very exciting,” she said.

Coming together at the start of this year as a new partnership, Alchin said she couldn’t have dreamt of a better start for their team.

“It’s going really well, and we’ve been working hard in training getting our side out going, and it’s been really good getting to put that to the test this weekend,” Alchin said.

Returning to the sands of Glenelg Beach was a special one for Alchin and Fleming, who haven’t played a competition since the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide last November.

“We haven’t played since World Champs, so it was definitely nice to start our year off here in Glenelg,” Fleming said.

“The energy is so amazing, the volleyball community here is so amazing, so it’s nice for the national tour to start here,” she said.

Earlier in the day Kayla Mears and Tara Phillips took out the Women’s Elite bronze medal.

“We love competing here in Adelaide – we both played our first beach volleyball events in Adelaide at this beach (Glenelg), so it’s exciting to come back and win a medal here,” Phillips said.

“We were very excited travelling here, it feels a little bit reminiscent of World Champs. So to play a little bit more volleyball here is always so much fun,” she said.

Following on from their gold medal at the Beach Pro Tour Futures in New Zealand two weeks ago, Solomon Bushby and Justin Schumann won bronze in the Men’s Elite division.

“It was a lot tighter than we were hoping for – the first set we had the lead and used it, and then the second set they had the lead and used it, and then the third set was just a battle,” Busby said.

“It came down to the last few points and we’re just happy that we got out on top,” he said.

For Schumann, the bronze medal win meant a lot, matching up against his old training partners from Victoria.

“Personally it was a very difficult game for me, against my training partners of the last billion years,” Schumann said.

“You play them so many times, and have all the expectations…and it was good to have Solly there just taking away pieces of the court,” he said.

Reflecting on the bronze, Bushby said it wouldn’t be possible without all of the support behind them.

“It’s all thanks to the people behind us – the VA Board, the VA community and the sponsors. Big thank you for getting us here, and we’re looking forward to Coolangatta as well,” he said.

The Australian Beach Volleyball Tour now moves to Coolangatta (QLD) from 6-8 March, before the final stop in Cobram (VIC) on 10-12 April.