NZ win women's, drop men's to India in beach volleyball
New Zealand easily won the women's contest but lost the men's in the beach volleyball series against India at North Harbour and Mt Maunganui.
The series was part of the 100 Years of Unity through Sport between the two nations.
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The home side won overall five matches to three with touring pro Olivia MacDonald scoring a clean sweep of victories over the four days.
MacDonald combined with Meile Rose-Green who is on a beach volleyball scholarship in San Diego to easily put away the India pair of Pavithra Sudalaikasi and Deepika Kandasamy 21-8, 21-9 in quick fashion in front of large crowd.
It was the fourth consecutive win for MacDonald who won the first two days with Lani Rawle at North Harbour and then days three and four with Rose-Green, all in straight games.
The combination between MacDonald and Rose-Green was a coach's dream as they execute their plays by the text only giving an occasional mistake. They did the basics well and kept their opponents on the back foot.
However earlier the new men's combination of Noah Smith and Cruize Satiu kept in touch but just could quite take their match against
Barath Somu and Rajesh Vinayagamoorthy to three sets.
Smith at 21 and Satiu still at high school and just 17-years old played a mature game losing the first set 19-21 against their more experienced opponents. They were always playing catch up but put plenty of pressure of Somu who did the defence at the back of the court while Vinayagamorthy dominated the net with his superb blocking.
The Kiwis were ahead 7-2 at one stage but couldn't hold their lead into the vital double figures as the Indian's pulled ahead to take the second set 17-21 for their third victory of the series.
The only match the Indian duo lost was on day one to Juraj Krajci and Ksyon Norton.
Results:
Men:
New Zealand - Noah Smith/Cruize Satiu lost to India - Barath Somu/ Rajesh Vinayagamoorthy 19-21, 17-21.
Women:
New Zealand - Olivia MacDonald/Meile-Rose Green beat India - Pavithra Sudalaikasi/Deepika Kandasamy 21-8, 21-9
