Timeout series heats up at Winter Classic

The third of five events in the 2016 Timeout beach volleyball series was held last Saturday at DTS Beach Arena in Windhoek.
The Word Press Namibia Winter Classic was the second time a competition was held at DTS this year, after the huge success of the Vita Juice Mixed Grand Slam in April.
The five categories were Men’s, Women’s, Youth Boys (U18), Youth Girls (U18) and Mixed Social 4-a-side.
The 32 teams weren’t just playing to become the Winter Classic medal winners, but were also fighting for N$6 000 of prizes sponsored by Word Press Namibia.
In the four-a-side category, ten teams battled it out in two groups in a round-robin format.
MeatCo Paradise, Little Britain, Phoenix Y and DMAN Productions emerged from their pool games to take their place in the semi-finals.
In the first semi-final, Phoenix Y defeated MeatCo Paradise 2-1 (15-12, 12-15, 7-6). In the second semi-final, Little Britain were defeated by DMAN Productions 2-0 (18-16, 15-6).
In the third place play-off, Little Britain overcame MeatCo Paradise 2-0 to take the bronze medal. In the final, DMAN Productions proved too strong for Phoenix Y, taking the match 2-1 to become Word Press Namibia Winter Classic four-a-side mixed champions.

YOUTH CLASSES
The youth girls competition saw four teams playing round-robin.
It very quickly became clear that one team would dominate this category – Ranjana Metzger and Jasmin Baas went through all three matches without dropping a set, whilst honoury juniors Kirsten Schreiber and Nicole Bohn won two out of three take second place.
Carmen Dieckmann and Lara Loos had an epic match against Movi to finish third. This was a masterclass in Under-18 beach volleyball.
Metzger/Baas may have to start looking for new challenges by playing in the women’s category.
• The youth boys turned into a rematch between the top two teams from the Tropizone Kalahari Open a month ago.
The final match saw Danilo von Ludwiger and Armandus Roettcher reverse the result from the last tournament to beat Andriko Boehringer and Dominik Witt 22-20, 21-13.
Third place went to Nikolas and Achim Gerber, who played Matthias Jauss and Philip and won 2-1. Once again, a great youth boys’ competition, with all showing good skill at such a young age.
MEN’S CATEGORY
In the men’s competition, eight teams competed in two groups.
The favourites in each group, namely Jan-Eric Sack and Brandon de Jager, as well as Fabian Pfeifer and Michael Sickel came through all their games undefeated.
Other strong performance in the pool stages came from Bentje Mehnert and Bernhard Schurz – the latter travelling especially for this competition from South Africa, winning two of their three games. Also, the re-united partnership of Arno Pack and Heiko Prior after 18 months away from competitions, won two out of three.
The first semi-final saw Sickel/Pfeifer beating Schurz/Mehnert 2-0 (21-19, 21-15). Sack/De Jager proceeded to the final by eliminating Pack/Prior 2-0 (21-15, 21-14).
The bronze medal match only took two sets with Schurz/Mehnert taking a comfortable victory (21-16, 21-14), giving Mehnert his first podium finish as a senior athlete.
The expectations of an exciting final were not disappointed. The first set went point-for-point to 20-21, with a very sporting gesture from Pfeifer admitting a net-touch which the referee did not see, handing the first set to Sack/De Jager at 20-22.
In the second set, Sickel/Pfeifer came out of the blocks fastest, taking a comfortable lead which they never conceded with some spectacular defensive plays to take the second set 21-10.
In the decisive third set, the trend continued with an early lead for Sickel/Pfeifer, not giving Sack/De Jager any opportunity to come back, winning the final set 15-8, to become WordPress Namibia Winter Classic champions.

WOMEN
Six women’s teams played in two pools to determine the two semi-finalists.
Again, the tournament favourites Rosi Hennes and Lizette Roettcher comfortably won all their pool games to book the semi-final place.
In the first semi-final, Simone von Wietersheim and Anita Kinder beat the young combination of Carmen Gaugler and Carmen Curschmann to reach their second final of the year.
In the second semi-final, the Bank Windhoek Nam Open Champions Michaela Boehringer and Kristin Schulz were beaten by Hennes/Roettcher 21-7, 21-10. The third place match saw Boehringer/Schulz regain their form, comfortably winning 2-0 to take the bronze medal.
In the final – a rematch of the Tropizone Aqua Kalahari Open a month ago – it took three sets to decide the winner. A slow starting Von Wietersheim/Kinder lost the first set 21-10, but in a nail-biting second set they won 21-19 to set up a deciding third set.
The game went point-for-point all the way until Von Wietersheim/Kinder took a decisive lead winning 15-12, to take title of Word Press Namibia Winter Classic ladies champions.
• The 2016 Timeout series will make its fourth stop at DTS Beach Arena for the Interpack King & Queen tournament on Saturday 17 September.
The official results:

Men
1 Fabian Pfeifer & Michael Sickel. 2 Brandon de Jager & Jan-Eric Sack. 3 Bentje Mehnert & Bernhard Schurz.

Ladies
1 Anita Kinder & Simone von Wietersheim. 2 Rosi Hennes & Lizette Roettcher. 3 Kristin Schulz & Michi Böhringer.

Youth Boys (Under 18)
1 Armandus Roettcher (12 years old) & Danilo von Ludwiger. 2 Andriko Boehringer & Dominic Witte. 3 Niklas & Achim Gerber

Youth Girls (under 18)
1 Ranjana Metzger & Jasmin Baas. 2 Kristen Schreiber & Nicole Bohn. 3 Carmen Diekmann & Lara Luesse.

Social Mixed 4-a-side
1 DMAN Productions. 2 Phoenix Y. 3 Little Britain.