Mumby praises England teammates for Nations Cup 2024 showing

Having beaten Bulgaria earlier on day two, Mumby, alongside playing partner Kirsty Star, and Anaya Evans, who teamed up with Katie Keefe (pictured above), were both beaten in close three-set games against Norway. 

The Norwegians will now take on hosts Spain tomorrow to decide who will advance from the preliminary stages to go through to the overall finals in Jurmala, Latvia in June. 

But Mumby felt there was much to be pleased about with the quartet’s efforts and said: “Unfortunately we narrowly missed out on the final, but I'm really proud of our performances as a whole and am very excited to see how much England can develop in the next Olympic cycle. 

“This event was an excellent opportunity to play some top-level teams and put our level to the test. 

“The unique on-court coaching this tournament format has allowed our teams to totally focus on our performances on the court, while our coaches Sam and Niko fed us tactical information from the sidelines. 

“Travelling with a coach is always a huge benefit, so having two with us really made a difference. 

“I’d like to put a huge shout-out to our 1s pair of Anaya and Katie who did excellently to save us from knockout by winning two golden sets. 

“I'm also very proud of Kirsty who really stepped up and performed incredibly in only her second international event!” 

Yesterday’s day one had seen the team begin against Israel and they got off to a disappointing start as Star and Mumby were beaten 16-14 in the third set tie breaker having exchanged the previous two with their opponents Tal and Barannik (17-21, 21-19). 

However, Keefe and Evans levelled the tie at 1-1 as they won another three-setter (21-16, 14-21, 15-9 against Dave and Ashush. 

That set up a golden set decider and with Keefe and Evans having already warmed to the task, they came through to edge out Dave and Barannik 15-13. 

A meeting with favourites and hosts Spain followed, who showed their class by winning both matches in straight sets. 

Liliana and Paula beat Star and Mumby 21-12, 21-16, while Alvarez and Moreno proved too strong for Evans and Keefe to triumph 21-9, 21-8. 

On day 2, England began by taking on Bulgaria, where Star and Mumby were first up against Mishonova and Nikolova, but went down 21-18, 21-13. 

Like against Israel, however, Keefe and Evans reversed the result in their match, powering to a 21-15, 21-15 success. 

Mishonova and Nikolova returned for the golden set against Keefe and Evans, but it was the English pair who came out on top 15-10 to give their country the overall win. 

The victory meant England would face Norway for a place in the pool final – and both matches proved to be highly competitive. 

When Star and Mumby overturned a first set 21-17 setback to take the second 21-12, they hoped to go on and take the match, but it was Steinsvag and Berntsen who took the tie-break 15-9. 

It was a similar story in the second match, where Evans and Keefe edged the first set 21-19, but Helland-Hansen and Olimstad came back to square the match at 21-13 and then clinch the tie-breaker 15-13. 

Volleyball England's Beach Performance Director, Kirk Pitman, said: "we are very proud of the team's performance in the Nations Cup.

"They faced tough challenges, but showed resilience, teamwork and determination."