[Troon #2 Results 2009] [Pictures]
Troon Volleyball Club held its second beach volleyball event of the summer as part of the Scottish Volleyball Beach Tour on Saturday 8th August.
The sun had shone all week but the weather on tournament day was overcast with a few short squally showers which saw players run for the cover of the tournament marquee at regular intervals.
This didn’t affect the quality of volleyball on show as twenty five teams vied for five different titles.
MENS DIVISION ONE
Thirteen mens teams fought for the First Division Title. The morning pools were extremely closely fought with Giles and Traylor taking first place in their pool ahead of Krawczyk and Welsh on points countback in the matches between each other and it was even closer between Curran and Panayoitakis and Moretta and Duffin. Both sides were exactly equal on matches won and points count back so a tie break set was required to decide that Curran and Panayoitakis would finish first in their pool. McNab and Watt finished comfortably top of their pool ahead of runners up Cormie and Toepper and Robertson and Mrowka took the final pool with Harvey and Graham taking second place and clinching the last quarter final place.
The quarter finals saw three of the pool winners defeating pool runners up but in the last of the quarter finals Curran and Panayoitakis saw their good work in the morning overturned by Harvey and Graham who closed off a close match with a 15-10 third set victory.
McNab and Watt continued on their imperious way in the semi finals as the number one seeds defeated first time beach circuit semi finalists Harvey and Graham in straight sets. The blocking of Mrowka and the defensive organisation of Robertson were too strong for the power of Traylor and the athleticism of Giles as they ran out 21-16, 21-18 winners.
Like golf’s Tom Watson before him, veteran Robertson and Mrowka seemed to run out of steam just at the wrong moment as the supremely smart pairs play of the east coasts McNab and Watt wrested the final from the west coast partnership in straight sets 21-12 , 21- 13.
WOMEN
The numbers participating in the women’s tournament were low due to a clash of events at the weekend. Lyall and Elaine Krawczyk taking first place ahead of the improving Jenny Krawczyk and Emma Pell who ran the more experienced pairing close before going down in three sets, 15-11 in the third. Susan Kee and Nina Buaer took third spot in this group.
MENS DIVISION TWO
This division was extremely closely fought with an extremely high standard of play on show.
The young team of Bruce and Aitchison were extremely unlucky not to make the semifinals.
In the semis Roman Li and Sangster proved just too strong for Welsh and McKee winning in two sets 21-15, 21-11. The other semi saw Jin Rui Ho and Reid beat the other young side of Hunter and Agius in two sets after an extremely close first set where the Hunter/Agius duo held set point.
The final was very closely fought and Reid and Jin Rui Ho just edged through against Roman Li and Sangster 17-21, 21-17, 15-13.
JUNIOR BOYS
The junior boys title went to Agius and Hunter by dint of finishing ahead of Bruce and Aitchison in Division two.
MIXED 4’s
The Hornets came out on top here finishing just ahead of Martin and the Motivators with two enthusiastic Marr College teams finishing third and fourth under the guidance of Troon Volleyball Clubs young stars Gillian Hair and Eilidh Cruise.
During the day Shelly Paterson ran a course for beach scorers and line judges.
The day could not have gone ahead without the early morning hard work of Elaine and Jenny Krawczyk, Gillian Lyall and Robert Ferguson. A special mention is due to Stephanie Campbell who not only helped set up in the morning but was the main administrator through the remainder of the day.
Report by Vince Krawczyk
Photos © Lynne Marshall