Beach volleyball: World-class players lining up

Silver Fern Anna Scarlett's performance will be watched with interest. Pictures / Nigel Marple

A strong field with some teams ranked in the world top 30 will feature in the first leg of the national beach volleyball series on the Coromandel Peninsula from next week.

The New Zealand tour starts at the new Matarangi Beach Estate site where men's and women's teams from around the world, including Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Germany and New Zealand, will compete.

The Matarangi tournament is the first leg of the national tour which visits five North Island centres in January, ending with the New Zealand Open in Auckland.

Heading the international men's field for the Matarangi event is the Swiss team of Michael Bleiker and David Wegner.

They are Switzerland's fifth-ranked team. The country is a powerhouse in beach volleyball with three teams in the world's top 10.

Another strong international combination are Canadian brothers Scott and Geoff Emslie.

Scott reached several semifinals in New Zealand over the past two seasons.

New Zealand's main hopes lie with Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead, who have had an outstanding year on the world tour where they improved their world ranking from 38 to 28. At 23 and 21 years respectively, they are the youngest team ranked in the world's top 30.

Two new New Zealand combinations expected to have a strong tour are Craig Seuseu and Brendon Heath, of Auckland, and Mike Peters and Hayden Jones, from Tauranga.

Seuseu has been the country's leading player for many seasons, achieving a world ranking of 18 in 1998, and having won more than 20 events on the national tour.

In the woman's section, the field is headed by strong German and American teams.

The highly promising German combination of Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig are on their first tour here. Aged 21 and 19, they have a world ranking of 40.

Goller is a former European under-20 champion and Ludwig a former world under-18 champion.

Tracey Lindquist, who won the New Zealand Open last season, returns from California, where she had a good year on the American Volleyball Professional Tour, finishing in the top 10 women's teams. Her partner is a 1.83m front court player, Courtney Guerra.

Heading the local women are Tauranga's Susan Blundell and new playing partner Rebecca Reidy, from New Plymouth.

Blundell has recorded a few wins on past tours, and Reidy has made several finals and was voted New Zealand's MVP last season.

There will be much interest at Matarangi in the performance of Silver Fern Anna Scarlett, ranked No 2 in New Zealand beach volleyball last season. She is not playing the full tour this season as she is preparing for the Commonwealth Games. Scarlett teams with Lucy Todd, of Christchurch.


On the beach

* January 3-4: Matarangi Beach Estate
* January 7-8: Wellington, Oriental Parade
* January 11-12: Ohope Beach, Bluebird Health Plus Challenge
* January 14-15: Mount Maunganui, Bluebird Health Plus Open
* January 20-22 ASB Tennis Centre, Auckland - NZ Open.

- NZPA