Qinzhou, China, October 11, 2017 – Alice Bain and Julia Tilley of New Zealand secured their first Main Draw appearance at a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour three-star event by winning a qualification match here Wednesday morning at the Qinzhou Open.
Bain/Tilley beat Kim Huber/Tatjana Greber of Switzerland 2-0 (21-19, 21-11) to book a berth in the single elimination Main Draw which is set to start on Thursday.
The duo from New Zealand jumped to a 6-1 lead in the first set, but Huber/Greber steadily pulled back to 20-19. Then Tilley nailed a shot for the set winner. In the second set, Bain/Tilley met no real resistance.
“It’s a hard match to play, but we are really happy to be in the Main Draw,” said Bain. “We’re overly happy with that, we’re glad that we got the job done.”
“We are really happy to win our first match. It’s the first time that we made it in the Main Draw in a three-star (event),” said Tilley. “We’re happy that we are going to move into the Main Draw hotel and I have a pretty good feeling.”
Bain/Tilley, who have played together for two years, want to continue their sound performance in the Main Draw.
“From now on, we’re just going to play well,” Tilley added. “If we play good volleyball I think we’ll be happy. We want to go out there and play the best we can and try to make an impact on some of those big teams.”
Two teams from Japan also claimed qualification victories on Wednesday. Sayaka Mizoe and Suzuka Hashimoto beat Yukako Suzuki and Fujii Sakurako 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) in an all-Japanese clash while Akiko Hasegawa/Azusa Futami trounced Canadian duo Amanda Harnett/Sophie Bukovec 2-0 (21-12, 21-11).
Five other teams including Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar of the United States sailed into the Main Draw with byes in the qualification tournament.