EMERGING Australian stars proved too much for two Philippine pairs on opening day of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge Nuvali Thursday in the City of Santa Rosa.
Jasmine Fleming and Elizabeth Alchin, the world No. 123 from Australia, used their height advantage to the hilt, hitting power shots and unreachable lobs in beating the Alas Pilipinas pair of Alexa Polidario and Jen Gaviola, 21-11, 21-13 in the qualifying round.
In a tournament loaded with top FIVB-rated teams from across the globe, even recently-crowned Asian Senior Beach Volleyball champions D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse had to go through qualifying.
Unfortunately for the unheralded Philippine pair of Ronniel Rosales and Edwin Tolentino, they ran into the young Asia-Pacific star—ranked 64th worldwide—who breezed through the match, 21-8, 21-10 in 28 minutes.
The 5-foot-9 Gaviola and 5-foot-7 Polidario started strong and even held a slim lead early, but the six-footers from Australia, coming off a fifth-place finish in the Asian Seniors and seventh in the BPT Challenge Chennai, showed their might and experience in scoring the straight-sets win in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation under its president Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
Gaviola said she was not too disappointed, noting that they followed the coaches’ gameplan.
“Although we have played several international tournaments, sometimes it’s evident that we still lack the experience but we need to overcome those things,” the 26-year-old Gaviola said.
“I believe we did fine because we followed the coaches’ instructions. There were lapses and we need to address those,” she added.
Action now shifts to the main draw, which features the Alas Pilipinas top women’s pair of Gen Eslapor and Kly Orillaneda, ranked 125th in the world with a fifth-place finish in the AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open and ninth-place finishes in the Asian Seniors and the BPT Futures Qingdao.
“This is a huge challenge, much more than our previous tournaments. The top-rated Europeans and Americans are here so we have to be at our best,” said Orillaneda.
Bannering the women’s competition are Paris Olympians — world No. 22 Alexia Richard and Lézana Placette world No. 31 Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau of France.
World No. 36 Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko of Ukraine, winner of the BPT Challenge Chennai last week, are also competing along with Jana Milutinovic and Stefanie Fejes of Australia, champion in the BPT Futures Coolangatta in March and the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in April and bronze medalists in the Asian Seniors three weeks ago.
In the men’s side, James Buytrago and Rancel Varga, silver medalists in the BPT Futures Nuvali in April, are back together as they face stiffer competition in the BPT Challenge event, a feeder to the BPT Elite 16.
Ran Abdilla, who played with Buytrago in the Asian Seniors where they fell just short of the knockout rounds, now sees action with Lerry John Francisco in the field headed by twins Joaquin and Javier Bello from England, world-ranked 17 coming off victory in the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 Rio de Janeiro.
