Whangarei's Suzy McAsey and Lenna Milton have missed out on qualifying for the New Zealand Open in the McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour - but not through lack of effort.
There were four spots in the Open left on Thursday when they played in the qualifying round at Auckland's ASB Tennis
Centre, but in the first match the Whangarei pair lost 2-1 to Auckland sisters Sophie and Charlotte Joy, who they had beaten at Mt Maunganui last weekend.
Suzy and Lenna then lost a marathon three-set match 22-20 to Wellington pair Kim Wong and Peri Stenhouse, who they had also beaten earlier in the tour.
Suzy put the defeats down to the couple of weeks she and Lenna had spent away from their children competing on the tour.
Suzy, who has one child, and Lenna with two are the only mothers among the volleyball tour competitors.
"The sport has really developed in this country with higher standards and younger players coming through," said Suzy, who has played on the tour for nine years.
"While we are disappointed with not making the Open, we are happy that we gave it our best shot."
