Credit: volleyball.org.au
The penultimate day of the Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta delivered thrills and spills aplenty, with two Australian pairs ultimately making it through to the final day of Volleyslam.
The five day event has seen elite domestic and international players descend on the Gold Coast, with the best of the best set to be decided in Sunday’s finals.
A tough day on the sand for the Australian pairs saw just two qualify for Super Sunday, with Paul Burnett and Jack Pearse booking their semi-final place with a late afternoon win against Martin Kaufer and Ole Schwarmann from Germany (2:0).
“I’m super stoked to be going through, they didn’t give us an easy one, that’s for certain,” said Pearse.
“We really had to fight, especially in that second set, and play some really good volleyball to come back and win.”
The pair dug deep to seal the deal in the second set, saving a number of set points to make it through to the semis.
“In the first set it felt like we couldn’t do anything wrong, everything was going right, but obviously it’s always tough to keep that going,” said Burnett.
“We stumbled a little in that second set and they brought a bit more pressure. Towards the end I was mentally preparing for a third set but Jack managed to clutch up and get it done in two.
“Full credit to the Germans, they played super well,” he said.
Burnett and Pearse have a perfect record in Beach Pro Tour Futures semi-finals this summer, finishing no worse than second.
After starting the domestic season with a win in Geelong, the Australian pair is hoping to end their season with another gold.
“To finish the season with another win would be amazing. It’s always awesome to make it to a Super Sunday and to come home with a gold would just be the cherry on top, especially at home in front of lots of family and supporters,” said Pearse.
“We play the boys from Thailand tomorrow morning. They’ve played against us already so I’m sure they’ve gone away and done some research on us, so I’m expecting a tough game.
“Hopefully we can pull through and make it to the gold medal match,” he finished.
Top seeds Stefie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic also booked themselves a semi-final start following their straight sets victory against third seeds Olivia MacDonald and Kiana Stevenson (NZL) earlier in the afternoon.
As defending champions of the Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta, Fejes and Milutinovic are well versed in the finals process.
“We’re so excited to play on Super Sunday tomorrow, the excitement of making finals never wears off,” said Milutinovic.
“We’ll just take it game by game and aim to deliver our game plan as well as we can.”
Fejes agreed, adding: “We’ll do the same prep that we always do, have a nice rest tonight, recuperate and get ourselves ready for tomorrow.”
All games on Super Sunday will be streamed via SBS on Demand, tune in from 8am to watch live.
BEACH PRO TOUR FUTURES
Coolangatta QLD | 20-24 March 2024
SUPER SUNDAY
Women’s Semi-Finals
8am AEST [13] Delaney Peranich/Maya Gessner (USA) v [4] Alaina Chacon/Mariah Whalen (USA)
9am AEST [5] Suzuka Hashimoto/Reika Murakami (JPN) v [1] Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes (AUS)
Men’s Semi-Finals
10am AEST [2] Thomas Reid/John McManaway (NZL) v [3] Jake MacNeil/Alexander William Russell (CAN)
11am AEST [9] Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha v [1] Paul Burnett/Jack Pearse (AUS)
12:30pm AEST/1:30pm AEDT Bronze Medal Matches
3pm AEST/4pm AEDT Gold Medal Matches
Click here for draws and results
Volleyslam 2024 is supported by Experience Gold Coast and the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland.
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