BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Teenage beach volleyball duo Phoebe Bell and Brittany Kendall have left their nerves in the sand and swept away with a win to open their Youth Olympic Games campaign 21-13, 21-4.
“Our first game was awesome. We were a little bit nervous going in because of the music and everything but it was such a good experience,” 17-year-old Kendall said.
“It’s always good to come away with a win in our first game,” partner Bell, 18, added.
The Aussies faced creative pair Mukantambara-Uwimbazi in what would be a battle of Australian structure and Rwandan flair under lights out on court 4.
Both sides opened with jitters but it was the Aussies who steadied the ship first. Bell/Kendall scored five unanswered points to claim a comfortable 7-2 lead in the first set.
“We’re always nervous before big tournaments like this. After the first few points we felt pretty good,” Bell explained.
A few unforced errors slipped into the Australian play, but when Kendall got the spike right, it was a bullseye. Mix that in with some trickery from Bell and the Aussies had a recipe to take the first set 21-13- but there was more to come.
“We absolutely killed it in the second set- we’re very happy with that,” Kendall said.
The Australians owned the second set with big serves, great set ups and good decision making. The girls put it down to their hard work on footwork and being very athletic and dynamic when they move.
The result was that the Aussies simply had the ball on a string- even with Bell and Kendall scrambling off court the Rwandans could only find the net and the Aussies raced out to a 21-4 victory.
“I think it’s always good to come out and play very settled,” coach Lauren said.
“I think that’s what we were looking for and that’s what we did so that’s probably the most impressive thing.
“We knew it was going to be a game we could take care of before we came if we played to our standard- but that’s always the challenge when you’re feeling nervous- to play to that standard.”
The Australians now play Verasio-Hiruela from Argentina who they recently beat at the U19 World Championships. The game is set for 8pm and it will be under lights again- this time on centre court.
“We’re 100 per cent looking forward to playing on centre court- we’re really keen.”
Bell and Kendall’s performance are part of a great day at the Youth Olympics for Australia, with Brittany Kendall winning the women’s triathlon and Australia taking bronze in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.
Bell and Kendall have four more pool matches including Argentina, Makroguzova-Rudykh (Russia), Joe-Daniel (Vanuatu) and Bernier-Cajigas (Puerto Rico) before the single-elimination phase begins.
Taya Conomos
olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam
