January 5th 2002 Pro Tour Qualifier

Saturday saw the only qualification tournament for the two NSW teams into the 2002 Pro Tour. After a long morning of discussions regarding players intent on the Pro Tour, the days play began. A Round robin tournament was run with the six teams that were willing to commit to the entire pro tour. As you could imagine most of the games were long fiercely fought battles.

The teams involved were:

Carl Graham & Craig Carracher
John Cuff & Jason Taikato
Andy McCoombe & Darren McKay
Josh Pepper & Mat Dickerson
Dub Ak. & Pat Brienan
Robyn de Goeij & Nick Bergeven

It was great to see Dub and Pat back up in Sydney, the question was asked whether they had been playing at all this summer? The answer was given directly to Mr Taikato in the form of one of the best Tattoos I have seen on the beach. Dub pounded a ball directly into Jason chest and he wore the mark for the rest of the day.

Games progressed and at the half way point it looked like Andy & Daz, John & Jason and Craig & Carl were the teams to beat. Andy & Daz faced up against John & Jason, both teams had not lost a game for the day and who ever won this match was going to be the First team to qualify. As it turned out Andy and Daz won the game 29 / 27. Cuff and Taikato made a few poor errors to hand the Kiwis the match after holding 2 match points them selves.

At the end of the day it was the two above teams that qualified with Craig and Carl and very close third. Craig and Carl played some of the best scrambling volleyball seen on the beaches of Manly this season. Good luck to all the teams that qualified into the main draw of the Pro Tour. See you on the beach.

Jazz Festival Event - Sunday 30th September

The Northern Beaches Volleyball Association (NBVA) held the first event over the October long weekend at Manly beach in conjunction with the Manly Jazz Festival.

There was a fantastic turn out of players in every division. It was great to see a full draw for the men's A's and the women's AA's.

The morning began with rego around 8am. Linley and Carl were once again in cracking form organising and speeding up the rego process for the first event of the season.

It was a superlative day, warm with a hint of a breeze. The men's AA event had a solid draw. Julian Prosser teamed up with Kiwi boy Andy McCoombe, Lee Zahner with Mark Lukowicz , Victor Anfiloff with Triston Boyd ( nice to see him back in the home land), John Cuff and kiwi sensation Jason "splat" Taikato , Hayden Jones and Daz McKay, and the grey haired combination of Craig Carracher and Carl Graham. These teams made up the top 5 teams with the seedings being decided by the old faithful, unbiased, rock - paper - scissors.

Julian "TP" Prosser won the first seed with a strong effort pulling out the big guns first round with "rock" defeating Leos feeble defence of a lack lustre "scissors".

Seedings were decided and games began.

As the day progressed "Beverages" were purchased and consumed during the breaks between games. This made for some interesting games in the afternoon. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped. The final was played between Tryston Boyd / Victor Anfiloff and Hayden Jones/ Darren McKay. With Trosto and Vic prevailing in the nasty conditions.

The Black sheeps of the tournie had to be the cardigan set of Carl Graham and Craig Carracher finishing a fantastic equal third. Cuff and Taikato had a few too many and found it rather hard to focus - on the game that is. While both teams of Julian/Andy and Leo/Luko pulled out with "elbow" related injuries.

So final standing in the Guys event were:

1st Victor Anfiloff with Triston Boyd
2nd Hayden Jones and Daz McKay
3rd Equal : Craig Carracher and Carl Graham

Girls Standing were:

1st Martine Grant & Jill Hansen
2nd Sarah Bunting & Adrienne White
3rd Sally Bacon & Ester Walls

A great day and fun was had by all!