NEW ZEALAND TOP PODIUMS IN RECENTLY-CONCLUDED AVC BEACH VOLLEYBALL CONTINENTAL CUP OCEANIA ZONE

New Zealand males’s and girls’s groups share their honours on the highest podium

Hosts Vanuatu sweep each males’s and girls’s silver medals

New Zealand topped each the boys’s and girls’s podiums on the 2023 AVC Seaside Volleyball Continental Cup Oceania Zone in Port Vila, with the Kiwi males sweeping hosts Vanuatu 2-0 in a snug showdown.

New Zealand, Vanuatu and Australia makes a 1-2-3 end within the girls’s occasion

The 2023 AVC Seaside Volleyball Continental Cup, a seaside volleyball double-gender occasion for groups representing Asian international locations competed in a rustic vs nation matches in a single elimination “best-f-three” format, was held in Vanuatu’s capital metropolis Port Vila between September 1-5 together with the arrival and departure of all collaborating groups.

5 nationwide federations strutted their stuff within the five-day AVC Seaside Volleyball Continental Cup Oceania Zone, with New Zealand, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and hosts Vanuatu featured within the males’s occasion and New Zealand, Australia, Solomon Islands and hosts Vanuatu within the girls’s class.

New Zealand on prime of the rostrum, with Vanuatu and Solomon Islands in second and third locations

Within the finals of the two-day occasion, Kiwis captured the boys’s title after convincing 2-0 win in opposition to Vanuatu within the comfy showdown, whereas the ladies’s last conflict noticed the Kiwis wrestle to beat the host aspect 2-1.

Following a clear sweep of victories in each males’s and girls’s occasion, New Zealand certified for the Remaining Section as a result of be held in the course of the week of June 21-23, 2024, with the eventual winners on this Section Remaining qualifying for the Paris 2024 Summer time Olympic Video games. The certified groups within the Remaining Section got here from 5 profitable NFs per gender from Section 1 plus Host NF, one 2021 Continental Cup Champions NF and one Successful NF from Section 2, totaling 8 NFs per gender.

Vanuatu girls’s staff gamers pose in group photograph

Vanuatu, second place in each genders, made the reduce for Section 2 as a result of happen in no later than June 2024. Collaborating groups in Section 2 will comprise 1st runner-up NFs per gender from Section 1 (5 NFs) plus Host NF, totalling most 6 NFs per gender.

In Port Vila, the boys’s semifinals had been held on September 2, with New Zealand disregarding Tuvalu 2-0 and Vanuatu demolishing Solomon Islands 2-0.

Within the first semifinal conflict, Bradley Fuller/Alani Nicklin handed New Zealand the primary win after pulling off a very one-sided 21-9, 21-6 win in opposition to Tuvalu’s Ata Biira Taunteang/Ampex Isaac. The second match noticed Thomas Reid/John McManaway breeze previous Tuvalu’s Poualu Taumafai/Isaako Elisala Nigel in one other lopsided battle 21-10, 21-5 for the New Zealand’s eventual 2-0 win in opposition to Tuvalu.

Within the second semifinal conflict, hosts Vanuatu’s Stivano Banga/James Chilia overcame a robust problem from Ray Quan/Tam Teriba to beat the Solomon Islands pairing in thrilling two-setter 21-18, 21-18. One other Vanuatu duo, Lodge Maki/Mahlon Mansale, shattered Solomon Islands’ hopes of a comeback try after cruising previous Maitaki Kaipua/Junior Navere 21-11, 21-15 to fully finish the Solomon Islands’ decided problem with a snug two-match win.

Vanuatu males’s staff decide up silver

The ultimate showdown turned out to be one-way visitors for New Zealand as they pulled off a convincing 2-0 win in opposition to the host aspect.

Gifted Fuller/Nicklin, who secured silver medal on the Wenzhou Cangnan Futures occasion and AVC Seaside Tour Penghu Open at Aimen Seaside, Penghu Islands in Chinese language Taipei early this yr, powered previous Banga/Chilia of Vanuatu 2-0 (21-12, 21-18), whereas Kiwis Reid/McManaway, who claimed gold medal at Nationwide Tour occasions early this yr on the Auckland New Zealand Seaside Tour and Tasman New Zealand Seaside Tour in February, proved a category above Maki/Mansale to beat the host pairing 2-0 (21-9, 21-6).

Solomon Island took bronze medal after 2-0 demolition of Tuvalu. Quan/Teriba downed Ata/Isaac 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) for the Solomon Islands’ first win and Kaipua Maitaki/Navere managed a 2-0 (21-9, 21-12) shutout of Taumafai/Elisala for a clear sweep of Solomon Islands.

In the meantime, within the girls’s occasion, Alice Zeimann, who teamed up with Shaunna Polley to seize gold medal on the 2022 Asian Senior Seaside Volleyball Championships in Thailand and the BPT Futures Mt Maunganui Seaside on house soil, partnered Olivia MacDonald to get New Zealand off to an excellent begin following their comfy 2-0 (21-8, 21-13) win in opposition to Vanuatu’s Majabelle Lawac/Sherysyn Toko.

Nevertheless, the host aspect recovered of their second match to bounce again with Loti Joe/Linline Matauatu posting a 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) win in opposition to Kiana Stevenson/Maria Hanabadi to carry a 1-1 tie.

The Golden Match to find out the eventual winners noticed Kiwis Zeimann/MacDonald go down within the first set in opposition to Lawac/Toko to stun the Vanuatu duo 2-1 (18-21, 21-15, 15-13) in exhausting 53 minutes.

Within the third-place playoff conflict, Australia proved too robust for Solomon Islands to brush each matches contested.

Aussies Georgia Johnson/Jasmine Fleming outperformed Hannah U’Una/Eddy Laezalyn 2-0 (21-8, 21-11) in 29 minutes, whereas Stefanie Fejes/Jana Milutinovic handed Australia the second win after a 2-0 (21-9, 21-6) demolition of Susie Teno/Kirstain Puia.

Within the first semifinal encounter earlier, Kiwis survived an enormous scare from Australia to beat the robust opponents 2-1, with Zeimann/MacDonald producing comeback 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 16-14) win in opposition to Johnson/Fleming within the Golden Match.

The opposite semifinal conflict noticed hosts Vanuatu cruise previous Solomon Islands 2-0 for the win. Lawac/Toko put Vanuatu forward 1-0 following their sensational 2-0 (21-10, 24-22) win in opposition to U’Una/Laezalyn, with one other Vanuatu pairing, Joe/Matauatu, disregarding Teng/Puia 2-0 (21-5, 21-13).