Volleyball: Bay players among winners in Asia

Three prominent Tauranga beach volleyballers were in the money in the latest event on the Asian Beach Volleyball Tour.

Top-five results for all pairings marked a best-ever Kiwi performance at the third leg of the Asian Beach Volleyball Tour, drawing a line in the sand for the New Zealand team's Rio Olympic Games campaign.

Both men's teams earned bronze-medal playoff spots in an all-Kiwi showdown.

The Tauranga pairing of Ben O'Dea and Jason Lochhead finally clawed their way to a win via a three set match 13-21, 21-13, 17-15 over Brendon Heath and Ben's brother, Sam O'Dea, to leave no doubt about the depth of New Zealand talent with both teams so closely matched.

Hamilton's Shaunna Polley and Julia Tilley cemented their place as New Zealand's most successful women's team on an Asian Tour with a fifth-place finish after losing their quarter-final to eventual title winners Thailand.

A host of top nine finishes and two bronze medals now puts New Zealand near the top of the Asia-Pacific rankings and a step closer to Olympic qualification.

The next opportunity for New Zealand to accumulate ranking points will be in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and China, starting in September this year.