After a fairly dodgy weather forecast the night before, nets and marquee were set up in light drizzle on the West Sands, St Andrews at the weekend. Once the players began to arrive though the weather perked up and by the time play began the sun began to shine on a cracking event with a very healthy entry and play on 7 courts.
King and Queen of the Beach is entered as an individual. Players play in pools of 4 playing with each player in turn and against the remaining 2 players. After the 3 matches, the top 2 players in terms of points won progress to the next round of pools, the losers going into playoff pools. This format is a welcome change for players and invites the best all-rounder to shine as they have to be able to gel with many different players over the day’s play.
In the first round of the women’s event, Agata Zaremba won her pool and along with Nicola McKenzie and Shelly Paterson progressed to the semi- final. In pool 2, Lilian Lieber convincingly won her pool, with Anna Fischer also qualifying for the semis. In pool 3, Lynne Beattie won her pool, with Sondrea Larsen and Monika Krysinska filling the last semi-finals spots.
In the first semi-final pool, Agata was unbeaten with Sondrea a close second, both of whom made it into the final pool. The second semi-final saw some close matches, with Shelly Paterson coming out on top ahead of Lynne Beattie, both of whom qualified for the final.
In the final, Lynne and Agata finished tied for second place, however it was Sondrea Larsen that proved more consistent over the 3 matches and took the title of Queen of the Beach 2014.
In the men’s competition, Graham Riddle, Martyn Johnstone, Jaroslaw Pasko, Lenard Sobieracki and Marcin Mosinski won their respective pools and all but Jaroslaw made it through round 2 to the semi-finals along with Ross Kirkwood, Mariusz Chudzik, Thomas Blanchin and Connor Boyle.
Mariusz won the first semi-final pool, not dropping a point. Tied for second place were Martyn and Thomas. This needed a playoff of the best of 5 points to decide who was to go through to the final. Martyn won this battle 3-2. In the second semi-final pool, Graham came out on top, not dropping a point, with Connor joining him in the final.
The final saw some fine play and some close matches, Connor Boyle taking the runners-up spot, however Graham Riddle didn’t drop any points over the 3 final matches and convincingly took the title of King of the Beach 2014.
The weather was fantastic all day and remained so as some of us watched the sun set.
On the Sunday there were 5 pairs entered for the mixed 2-a-side competition on another glorious day. The final saw Lilian Lieber and Jaroslaw Pasko battle it out with Mariusz Chudzik and Nicola McKenzie, with Lilian and Jaroslaw narrowly winning 21-19, 21-18.
Thank you to all who came and supported the event, to all who helped set up on the Saturday morning and to all who stayed behind to help take down on the Sunday afternoon. The Scottish Tour is in a very healthy state because of you all.
Colin Paterson
St Andrews Beach Volleyball Club
