Credit: volleyball.org.au
Seven Australian teams are through to the weekend at the Beach Pro Tour Futures event on Coolangatta Beach, with four qualifying directly for quarter-finals after two from two wins in the pool matches.
Included in VolleySlam, the Beach Pro Tour Futures event has welcomed elite international and domestic players to the Gold Coast for a five-day competition that will culminate with medal matches this Sunday.
Stefie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic along with Jasmine Fleming and Georgia Johnson are through to the last eight after a stellar start to the tournament saw them both top their respective women’s pools.
Looking to back up their Beach Pro Tour Futures win in Mollymook last month, Fejes and Milutinovic were happy with today’s win against Megumi Murakami and Riko Tsujimura of Japan.
“We came off a three set win yesterday not too happy with our performance, so we definitely came out roaring from the start of today’s game,” said Milutinovic.
“We brought a lot of energy and aimed to just play our best shots and make good decisions.”
Fejes agreed, stating the pair is looking forward to the final days of competition.
“The Japanese girls are amazing, even though they’re on the shorter side they play such amazing, technical volleyball,” Fejes said.
“We’ve played them before in the semi-finals of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Mollymook but we made sure to come in with fresh eyes and tried to dismantle them as quickly as possible.
“Jana did an amazing job at the net there blocking literally every single shot for the last five to ten points.
“We’re definitely pushing for the gold this tournament, aiming to go back-to-back. It’s our fifth tournament in a row so we’re coming into every game with newfound focus, going through our processes and just building every single time,” she finished.
Advancing to the Round of 12 in the women’s tournament are fellow Developing Beach Volleyroos Jasmine Rayner and Lizzie Alchin following a 2:0 win over Katie Sadlier and Meile Rose Green (NZL).
After a commanding on-sand display over the past few days, top seeds Paul Burnett and Jack Pearse and eleventh seeds Garang Anyang and Justin Schumann are also through to the quarter-finals after two straight wins.
“It feels really good to be through and to have done it by playing some really good volleyball,” said Burnett.
“We really wanted to bring some consistency to our games this week and now that we’ve…
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