Pairs reap more success at beach volleyball

Shedeiky Hamilton-Barnes and Kai Wright won the second round of the Just Bet/TvJ SN Beach Volleyball Tour at Cornwall Beach on Saturday.

Dellan Brown and Christopher 'Froggy' Walters took the male equivalent, as they also secured a second consecutive win.

In the final, against the once-dominant UWI Volleyball Club pair of Cherine Richards and Cheryl Daley, Hamilton-Barnes and Wright came away victors, though pushed to three sets - 21-18, 13-21, 15-6.

The duo is preparing to represent Jamaica in the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation Beach Volleyball Tour in Puerto Rico next weekend.

"We really will have to play with better court awareness and maintain our spatial orientation during the points," said Barnes.

"The NORCECA Tour is very tough and, if we are going to stand a real chance, we cannot be giving away points. There are some common errors in our game; we need to focus more so that we can, in essence, correct our errors before we make them."

G.C. Foster Volleyball's Khesia Livingston paired with Brittney Scott to take third over first-round runners-up, Renae Temple and Cherie Thompson.

Nine female teams participated in round two of the tour, in a total of 20 matches.

dig really deep

In the men's final against Oliver Reid and his Italian partner, Alex 'Jesus' Talgio, Brown and Walters had to come from behind to take the match 13-21, 21-11, 15-8. Reid and Talgio were unbeaten, up to this point, on the day.

"Froggy and I had to dig really deep to come back from a set down, but we really want to win each leg of the preliminary round and then go on to win the overall title," said Brown.

"We know it is not going to be easy though."

The Jamaica Under-19 boys' pair of Shavar Bryan and Rojey Hutchinson surprised many to take the final podium position in the male division, beating Tristan Hitchman and Shavoy Irving in the third place play-off. Bryan and Hutchinson are using the Tour to help prepare for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games Qualifier in Trinidad in November.

Nineteen male teams participated in round two of the tour in a total of 44 matches.

So far, $100,000 each, in cash prizes, has been won in both the male and female divisions, with tithe winning pairs in the respective divisions each earning $30,000.

The third and final preliminary-round leg will be held at the Urban Development Corporation beach in Ocho Rios on Saturday.

After the preliminary round, the top six teams, in terms of accumulated points, will advance to the play-offs in another three-week competition in the Corporate Area.