Windhoek
The City of Windhoek hosted the 2nd of 5 Timeout Beach Series 2016 events at the Tivoli Southern Sky Guest Farm last weekend.
The Tropizone Aqua Kalahari Open competition was for the second time held at the guest farm after the huge success of the tourney last year. The four categories included: Men’s, Ladies, Youth Boys (U18) and Social.
A total of 19 teams were not just playing to become champions, they were also fighting for cash prize money of N$6 000 in total, sponsored by Interpack. Kalahari dune sand was especially brought in last year to make the three unique beach volleyball courts for these particular events.
“The Schreiber family have worked extremely hard to prepare for this year’s event, with tonnes of sand being transported from the nearby Kalahari dunes, which I am very thankful to them for all their efforts,” said James Verrinder, technical director of the Timeout Beach Series.
In the social category, six teams battled it out in a one-set round robin format to try and reach the final on Sunday. In a very close competition two teams emerged the strongest and both moved directly to the final.
Mark Brinkmann and Udo Witte showed great control of the ball and won all their pool games, whilst Christine Roettcher and James Verrinder only lost one match against Mark and Udo.
A fight for the 3rd and 4th place in the pool stages saw three teams all ending on 2 wins and points difference had to be use to split them. Nicole and Kalli Bohn and Verua Kavezeri and Dorle Verrinder had the highest points difference and would play for the bronze.
The match for 3rd place saw Nicole and Kalli fight hard and a very close match finished 24:22 with Verua and Dorle finishing just ahead and taking 3rd place.
The final proved to a very exciting match with Mark and Udo, looking confident after winning all their pool matches. But Christine, who is only 10 years old from Erongo Region and playing her first every tournament with partner James, weren’t going to let them take it easily.
The lead changed several times, but Mark and Udo pulled away from 17:17 to win the match 21:18 and become Social Champions.
The Youth Boys category proved to be a very exciting category. Four teams played the best of three-set matches in a round robin format. In a battle royale, three teams finished the pool stage with 2 wins each and had to be separated by point difference.
Andriko Boehringer and Dominik Witte finished on +38 to finish 1st in the pool stages, whilst 2nd and 3rd place only had +12 and +4, respectively.
The semi-final saw Andriko and Dominik cruise through to the final with a strong win over Matthias Jauss and Philip. In the second semi, Armandoes Roettcher and Danilo von Ludwiger produced a second win of the weekend against Yannik Bohn and Marcel Bader to reach the final.
The bronze medal match saw Marcel and Yannik beat Matthias and Philip to secure 3rd place, whilst in the final another great performance the two 14-year-olds, Andriko and Dominik, to win in two sets 21:14, 21:12 and become Youth Boys Champions.
The ladies competition brought together four very evenly matched teams fight for the title. The pool play saw Rosi Hennes and Lizette Roettcher win all three of their matches, Simone von Wietersheim and Anita winning two to take the psychological advantage into the semi-finals.
The semis went to the form book with Rosi and Lizette beating the 17-year-old pair of Carmen Curschmann and Elena Bohn and Anita and Simone winning over Greta and Lena 21:12, 21:17 in the second semi.
The 3rd place match was a very close affair, with Lena and Greta taking the first set, leaving Carmen and Elena the second. In the final set it was tied until 11:11, but this was followed by a couple of great points from Lena and Greta, who pulled away and won bronze 21:16, 12:21, 15:12.
The final saw four of the most experienced beach volleyball players in Namibia go head-to-head one more time and they did not disappoint. Rosi showed her recent international experience with a few strong attacks and she and Lizette took the first set 21:15.
In the second Anita and Simone dug deep and found some great defensive moves that earned some valuable points to keep up with the consistency of Rosi and Lizette.
At the business end of the set the pressure told and Rosi and Lizette pulled away and took the second set and the match 2:0, 21:15, 21:18 to become Tropizone Aqua Kalahari Open Champions 2016.
The men’s competition consisted of five teams and 10 pool matches to make the semi-finals. The team of Brandon de Jager and Jan-Eric Sack, who finished second at the Namibian Open in March, looked good as they won all their pool games.
The 16-year-old twins Daniel and Fabian Pfeifer also took 3 wins out of 4 in the pool play to avoid Brandon and Jan-Eric in the semis. The other semi-finalist was Marco Jauss and Damian Schreiber, who won 2 out of 4 pool matches and Marc-Andre Witte and Andriko von Ludwiger who won one.
The first semi-final was won by Brandon and Jan-Eric 2:0 and the second semi was won by Daniel and Fabian 2:0 to set up a very exciting Final. In the 3rd place match, Marco who picked up a calf injury in his semi-final, pushed past the pain and found some great for with his partner Damian to take the bronze medal, winning 21:12, 21:12.
The final lived up to its billing, with a very close match between two really exciting young teams. The first set went to the older pair of Brandon and Jan-Eric 21:16.
The second set saw the twins fight back and made some amazing blocks and defensive plays to take the second set 21:19 to set up a very tense 3rd set. The lead went one way then the other.
Eventually Brandon and Jan-Eric got a 2-point break and did not look back, winning the final set and the match 2:1 – 21:16, 19:21, 15:12 to take the men’s title of Tropizone Aqua Kalahari Open Men’s Champions 2016.