Olympic dream in their hands

READY, SET . . . but will Gisborne’s Julia Tilley (right) and Tauranga’s Alice Bain get to go to the Rio Olympics? Picture supplied

GISBORNE’S Julia Tilley and new partner Alice Bain go into tomorrow’s Olympic Games qualifying series beach volleyball tournament in Thailand needing to make the final to keep their Rio dream alive.

“We need to finish in the top two to progress on to the final round in Cairns in June,” said Tilley, who had to find a new partner after previous partner Shaunna Polley took a year off to go travelling.

“Although we’re a new pairing, we have our sights set on making that last stage and giving ourselves a chance of getting a spot in Rio.

“The winners in Australia will go to the Olympics and the second and third teams will head to a final round in Russia, where they will play the other second and thirds from other regions. The winners of that will also go to Brazil.”

Balancing work with travel and tourneysTilley said New Zealand teams had to balance work with travel and tournaments, so competing against full-time professional athletes was tough.

“But it makes it all that much sweeter when you win or make the final as we did in the Asian Tour final last week in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

“That was exciting.”

Eight teams will compete in Thailand this weekend. While Tilley is the more experienced member of the new combination, 20-year-old Bain began her career in indoor volleyball.

“Alice went to Tauranga Girls’ College, where she played indoor volleyball and made New Zealand age group teams,” Tilley said.

“Alice still plays indoor but has committed herself more to the beach volleyball scene. A fresh partnership always comes with new learnings and needing to adapt to different situations, so it is great for my game.”

Tilley and Bain have been competing on the Asian circuit for the past five weeks.

“Our first two tournaments were in Thailand and Indonesia, where we finished ninth-equal,” Tilley said.

“It was tough getting used to the 35-degree heat and also smoothing out the new partnership. Then we went on to Vietnam where things clicked for us and we managed to play really well, and got an awesome result.

“It was the first time a New Zealand women’s team had made an Asian tour final. Our quarterfinal was a big game. We beat an experienced Vietnam team in the third set, which gave us a good boost of confidence.”