Credit: volleyball.org.au
The opening Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour tournament of the season comes to a close Sunday with four Australian teams certain to play off for medals in Mollymook.
The top two seeds in the men’s draw are just one win away from setting up an all-Australian final after both played their best matches of the tournament in the quarter-finals.
Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis were given a stern contest by Israeli duo Tomer Hadar and David Lanciano, however victory was never in doubt with a confidence building 21-15, 21-16 win.
“Hats off to the Israel guys, they put up a big challenge for us today to get through,” said Carracher. “Good preparation for tomorrow so time to rest up and get going.”
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The top seeds will face Banlue Nakprakhong and Wachirawit Muadpha on Super Sunday after the Thai duo upset Japanese fourth seeds Yusuke Ishijima and Kensuke Shoji in three sets.
Second seeds Paul Burnett and Jack Pearse were in imperious form on Saturday, conceding just 20 points in their demolition of Canadian third seeds Jake MacNeil and Alexander William Russell.
Burnett said the pair had a clear focus coming into the match which they were successful in executing.
“Really happy with that performance, that’s the sort of style of game we want to be playing every game,” he said. “Jack played really well, hit really high and I think that was the key, was just being a bit too big today.”
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Burnett and Pearse – who won the final Futures event of 2023 in Geelong – have the opportunity to take back-to-back titles but will first need to get past Jordan Hoppe and James Shaw of the United States.
After beating Australian surprise-packets Declan Tiso and Rob Reeves in the quarter-finals, Hoppe and Shaw have now made the final four of their first-ever Futures tournament together. Hoppe, however, has had success in Australia before, taking away the bronze medal from the Coolangatta Futures last year with Charles Siragusa.
In the women’s draw, Australia is assured of a finalist with the top two teams this summer facing off in the semi-finals Sunday.
Georgia Johnson and Jasmine Fleming have had to come through the draw the hard way after falling in their opening pool match on Thursday then needing to come back from a set down in this morning’s round of 12. However they showed some of their best…
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