Kiwis move on in beach volley

MANILA, Philippines - The top-seeded pair from New Zealand marched into the semis yesterday while the Philippine tandem that made a lot of heads turn was booted out in the “Fit to Hit” Philippine Beach Volley Invitational at the Sands SM by the Bay.

Julia Tilley and Shauna Polley, the No. 1 women’s beach volley pair from New Zealand, notched their third win in as many matches, wearing down Low Mei Cing and Nurraini Binti of Malaysia B, 21-11, 21-12, in just over 30 minutes.

The New Zealand spikers, taller and heftier than most participants in this four-nation, eight-team event, are favored to win it all, whoever gets to challenge them in the closing matches.

But Tilley said they’re not thinking ahead of time.

“The goal was to get to the semis. We’ve done that and we’re very happy,” said Tilley, refreshed after the match played under conditions that felt so much hotter than the registered 33 degrees.

“It was very hot. But that’s what we came here for because back home it’s pretty cold at this time of the year,” said Tilley, who’s had a three-year partnership going on with Polley.

The New Zealand team is in Manila gearing up for the coming Asian Championships in Hong Kong, and the second stage of the 2016 Olympic qualifiers in New Zealand.

“We’re hoping to do well in these events to make it to the Olympics,” said Tilley.

But while they looked forward to better things, the lovely Philippine B of Bea Tan and Lindsay Dowd crashed out following a 21-16, 21-19 loss to Wai Yan Lo and Rachel Tam of Hong Kong A.