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D’ARTAGNAN POTTS and Jack Pearse made gritty plays against the more experienced Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher, emerging victorious in the all-Australian title showdown, 21-19, 21-19, in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Nuvali Sand Courts in the City of Santa Rosa.
The 21-year-old Potts and 22-year-old Pearse came up with their most impressive performance in the five-day tournament, pulling off the straight-sets win in 40 minutes against the Nicolaidis-Carracher pairing, which saw action in the Paris Olympics.
“Our team connection was really good,” Pearse said. “They’re a really great team and to beat them shows the potential that we have as a team.”
Potts noted that the tournament presented tough challenges even in the early stages — the meet featured top Asian Volleyball Confederation and FIVB-rated teams from 14 countries — and he was very pleased to cap it off with a win over their more illustrious compatriots.
“Jack and I just kept building from the first match, kept building and building, even when the games weren’t going as planned,” Potts said.
Potts and Pearse went unbeaten in the tournament, defeating the Philippines’ Lerry John Francisco and Rancel Varga in straight sets in the preliminaries.
“Whether it be two sets or three sets I knew it was going to be close,” Potts added.
AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open champions Jana Milutinovic and Stefanie Fejes of Australia bagged the women’s bronze with a 21-15, 21-19 victory over Japan’s Asami Shiba and Saki Maruyama in the tournament backed by Nuvali, Ayala Land, Rebisco, Smart, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, City of Santa Rosa, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Akari, Sip, Cignal, One Sports, One Sports Plus, Pilipinas Live, Asian Volleyball Confederation and the Philippine National Volleyball Federation.
Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab of Iran, the men’s Nuvali Open champion in April, wound up in third place this time after stopping China’s Wu Jiaxin and Ha Likejiang, 21-15, 21-17, in the event organized by the PNVF and the AVC, both headed by Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
End it…end it