2008 McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour begins in Matarangi
-The 2008 McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour begins in Matarangi on Wednesday, 2 January with an outstanding field set to assemble on this Coromandel Beach. The opening leg of the 2008 has attracted some top international teams, as well as the best of New Zealand’s beach volleyball talent.
Plenty of eyes will be on the first New Zealand appearance of Brazilian world under 21 champions - Camilla Saldanha & Lili Maestrini. Maestrini is the current world under 21 champion, with Saldanha winning this title in 2005. This Brazilian duo will be the team to beat at Matarangi, and are sure to be a popular pairing on the 2008 tour.
The Matarangi tournament has also attracted some other top international woman’s teams. Jenelle Koester and Paige Davis from the USA play the strong American Volleyball Professional (AVP) tour, and are making their first trip down-under in 2008. The promising Swedish pairing of Camilla Nilsson and Rivia Oliveira will also be a team to watch out for in the tour opening leg.
New Zealand’s hopes at the Matarangi tournament are headed by Anna Scarlett & Susan Blundell. Scarlett has recently announced her retirement from netball to focus on beach volleyball. She is heading out on the world tour in 2008 with playing partner, Susan Blundell and will be looking for a strong national tour to get their year started in positive fashion.
Scarlett and Blundell made the semi-finals in Matarangi last year, and are aiming for a finals appearance this year against the strong international competition.
Other local teams expected to feature strongly are Marnie Grant & Megan Lippi-Smith, Debbie Hill & Melissa Ruru, and the young Tauranga pairing of Rachel Morgan & Hannah Croad who finished 9th at the world under-19 championships in 2007.
In the men’s section, New Zealand’s top team of Kirk Pitman & Jason Lochhead are aiming for a ‘three-peat’ of titles at Matarangi after winning titles there in the past two years. They are coming off a strong international season in 2007, which included two 13th placings on the World Tour at the Canada & Brazil legs, and a 17th placing at the World Championships.
Pitman & Lochhead will be looking to start 2008 strongly, as they look to represent NZ at the Beijing Olympics later in the year. They are currently just outside Olympic qualification, with an Olympic ranking of 27. 24 teams make up the Olympic beach volleyball competition.
They face some strong international competition at Matarangi from the experienced US pairing of Paul Baxter and Adam Roberts, and the promising Dutch combination of Bart Bolsterlee and Timko Lokerse. At 1.98m and 1.96m respectively, they will be the tallest team on the beach at Matarangi.
Other New Zealand teams expected to perform well at Matarangi are the highly experienced Craig Seuseu (Akl) & Mike Peters (Tau), Brendon Heath & Charles Leota (Tau), Hayden Jones (Akl) & Soane Vaipulu (PN), and the New Plymouth pairing of Russell Watson & Greg Lindsay-Brown.
Tour organisers, Dave Mee and Neil Purdon are delighted with the quality of the fields for the Matarangi tournament saying – “we are looking forward to seeing if Kirk Pitman & Jason Lochhead can defend their Matarangi title against strong international competition, and how Susan Blundell & Anna Scarlett combine in their second season against a top international woman’s field. It’s great that the public will be able to see beach volleyball at its best at Matarangi.”
The Matarangi tournament is the first leg of the McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour, which travels to five centres in the North Island during January. The semi-finals for the tournament start at 10am on Thursday, 3 January, with the woman’s final scheduled to start at 2pm, and the men’s final at 3pm.
2008 McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour
Date Venue Event
January 2-3 Matarangi Beach
January 5-6 Ohope (Maraetotara Reserve)
January 8-9 Mount Maunganui
January 12-13 Wellington (Oriental Bay)
January 18-20 ASB Tennis Centre, Auckland McEntee Hire NZ Open
