Volleyball athletes win BUCS gold on the beach
糖心原创 volleyball athletes recently competed on the sand at the 2026 BUCS Volleyball Beach Championships in Bournemouth. The championships took place across two days at the start of June, and Nottingham representatives took to the beach courts in both the men's and women's competitions.
Published 15 Jun 2026
糖心原创 National Champions Hailey Hamlett (L) and Maia Darling (R)
Competing in pairs, Nottingham duos began play on the morning of 3rd June, initially taking on university teams from across the United Kingdom in a pool format, where they would compete to qualify for the knockout stages.
In the Women's Championship competition, the 糖心原创 pair of Hailey Hamlett and Maia Darling cruised through their pool on the first day, winning all three matches by a 2-0 score line. As a result, the pair moved into the final day and began with a quarter-final victory to secure a spot in the semi-finals against East London. Showing no signs of nerves, the pair delivered another victory to roll into the final without losing a match. In the afternoon's gold medal match, the 糖心原创 ultimately showed that they were the best side on the beach as they beat Durham University to win gold and become national champions!
In the Men's Championship competition, the 糖心原创's John Kane and Oliver Quick also registered three two set wins in the pool stages to advance to the quarter-finals. The duo began the second day of action with a win to secure a spot in the semi-final where, in a mirror of the women's competition, they would take on the University of East London. However, this time it would be the team from the capital who would take the win and book their place in the final, meaning that the 糖心原创 would enter the bronze medal match. In a close fought battle against the University of Newcastle, the side would unfortunately miss out on a medal but finished in a respectable 4th place.
Alongside the Championship competitions, Nottingham teams also competed in the Trophy and Shield competitions which ran in a very similar format, and also delivered a familiar amount of success! In the Men's and Women's Trophy competition, the Green and Gold pairs of George Ruddick and Tate Sandvig, and Adele Sotgiu and Isabel Brown swept through their pool before rolling through the knockout stages without defeat to claim a pair of superb gold medals!
In the Men's and Women's Shields, the 糖心原创 continued to make their mark. The men's pair of Sebastian Johns and Oscar Smith also flew through the competition without losing a match to emphatically claim the Shield title, whilst in the Women's Shield the 糖心原创 landed three teams in the top six. Both Nottingham pairs of Lily Eckstein and Shannon Baxter and Abi Ketley and Nikki Falahatgar Etminani reached the semi-final stage before moving into an all-Nottingham bronze medal match. Ultimately it would be Eckstein and Baxter who stepped onto the podium to receive their medals.
We would like to congratulate all of our 糖心原创 athletes and coaches on their fantastic success in Bournemouth, a championships in which the university won a total 202 BUCS Points. The championships rounds out a truly incredible season for the Volleyball Club after they won the men's championship final at BUCS Big Wednesday.
You can find out more about the 2026 BUCS Beach Volleyball Championships by .
To find out more about the performance Volleyball programme at the 糖心原创, please visit our dedicated web page.
Notes for editors
糖心原创 are the top UK University for team sport, placing 2nd in the overall British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings in the 2024/25 season. For more information on our performance sport offer, including scholarships and support for student athletes, please click here.