WINDHOEK – The DTS/PEPSI Beach Volleyball Tournament took place in Windhoek last weekend at the DTS Sports Ground and proved a huge success with 32 teams taking part in the one-day tourney. The competition, which forms part of the this year’s National Beach Volleyball Series, consisted of 6 Men’s teams, 9 Ladies’ teams, 9 mixed 4-a-side social teams, 5 Youth/Social 2-a-side teams and 3 Junior Girls 2-a-side teams, with a total amount of N$ 5 000 in prize money was at stake and the teams were fighting hard to reach the podium. In the 4-a-side category, 2 groups played in a round robin system with the following teams, reaching the top 2 places to qualify for the semi-finals, Cats & Dogs, Farmers Attack, Meatco Paradise & Scoops. Cats & Dogs, managed to win their semi-final against Farmers Attack, 2-0 sets. Meatco Paradise clinched a narrow win over Scoops (2-1) to reach the final. Cats & Dogs were, however, too strong against the Meatco combination and won their first title this year, leaving Farmers Attack adrift in 3rd place. In the Junior girls category, only 3 teams entered that saw the combination of Methe Ritzdorf and Friedja Mehnert seeing Aliena Rumpf and Ranyana Metzger off with Amy Coury and Tanya Mittendorf in 3rd spot.
The 2-a-side Youth/Social category attracted 5 teams with the top 3 places to be decided in a round robin final that saw the OTB team of Werner Paulus and Zuma Kalipi reaching top position, while Eike Hoff/Nicole Bierbach finished 2nd with Melissa Kring and her playing partner Michelle Bierbach having to be satisfied with the bronze medal. The Ladies category saw 9 teams battling it out, with a couple of newcomers from the junior girls’ level moving up to the ladies category. No 1 seeded team of Rosi Hennes/Teja Lück reached the semi-finals by beating the junior ladies team of Kim Seebach/Stephanie Palmhert 2-1 sets. No 2 seeded team Anita Kinder/Simone von Wietersheim also cruised through defeating Wiebke Höritzauer/Birte Fahrbach thus leaving the combination of Höritzauer/Fahrbach to fight it out from the losers round to set up a date with Hennes/Lück in the semi-.final. In an exciting 3 set match, played under floodlights, Kinder/von Wietersheim managed to win their 2nd tourney this year. Third place went to Lück/Hennes. Six men’s teams played in a very competitive field of young and old players. Junior National Team of Jan Eric Sack and Roman von Ludwiger, beating Peter Brinkmann who was playing with his 15-year old nephew Luke, since his regular partner, Achim Lück was unavailable, in a thrilling 3 set semi-final match. In the 2nd semi-final, no 1 seeded team Arno Pack/Heiko Prior, lost against the newly formed team of James Verrinder and Michael Sickel in straight sets.
The final provided great action, with each team winning one set, with a tiebreak set to decide the winners but player coach, Verrinder showed his experience against the youngsters to eventually take the tie 15-11 on the way to grabbing their first title. Third place went to Pack/Prior. The next tourney takes place on the 27th of next month.
Caption: 033 jpg – From left: James Verrinder, Michael Sickel, Simone von Wietersheim, Anita Kinder, Werner Paulus and Zuma Kalipi