Northland's beach volleyball pair of Suzy McAsey and Lenna Milton are philosophical about their early exit from the NZ Open qualifying tournament. "We obviously hoped we'd make it, but we were looking towards next year as being our big season," McAsey said. The pair won their first match at Mairangi Bay inAuckland yesterday, but lost their second against the top seeds which sent them out of the tournament. The Open at Auckland's Stanley St, which starts today, is the fifth stop on the national beach volleyball tour, in which McAsey and Milton are taking part.. The top four seeds after the first four rounds gained automatic entry to the Open, with the bottom four - including McAsey and Milton - forced to play off. McAsey and Milton went into the one-day qualifier looking for consistency and played well in their first match. In the second match, they went point-for-point against their rated opponents in the first set before going down 21-19. They won the second 21-16 before losing the third 15-9. "We had a plan of how we wanted to play, but it just wasn't to be," McAsey said. "Lenna did really well, considering it's her first season on the beach, and indoor is a lot different to the sand. There's a lot for her to learn. "We always knew it would be next year when we'd really be aiming to fire, so anything this year was going to be a bonus." Their goal was to finish in the top eight but they were happy to finish 10th. McAsey's experience will be tested on Waitangi Weekend, when she and Milton would compete at the New Zealand championships at Mount Maunganui. She will also be coaching a secondary schools team who are competing.
