After a lot of hard work from the SVA Staff & Volunteers, the stage was set 
on Friday evening for the CEV SCD Men’s Zonal Event in Portobello, Edinburgh.
The teams, referees and officials all descended onto the picturesque view of the Edinburgh coastline with the intention to win the beach volleyball event. Teams from Finland, Cyprus, Wales and Scotland made the journey to compete for the first prize.
Round 1 of the competition took place on Friday evening with 6 matches taking place. There were victories for the travelling countries over their Scottish Counterparts while Finland and Scotland #1 received a bye to Round 2.
#1 seeds Finland kicked off their campaign against Beach Volleyball veterans Graham Riddle and Barry McGuigan. The Finnish pair controlled the game and booked their place in Round 3. Scotland’s Miedzybrodzski and Cook also secured their spot in Round 3 with a win over the Welsh pairing of Robbins & Davies. Scotland’s Ross McKelvie & Dan White overcame the other Scottish pairing of Mitchell Brown & Callum Stewart to join the Cypriot pair of Savviddis/Liotatis in Round 3.
The loser’s bracket seen a big victory for this summer’s new pairing of Brown/Stewart over veterans Jack McKeown and Colin Paterson. A 22-20 3rd set victory for the young Scots was a testament to the hard work they have put in over the summer.
Scottish Volleyball welcomed the Commonwealth Games Queen Baton’s Relay on Saturday with nearly 5000 people in attendance. All of these people who came to see the baton also got a taste of International Men’s Beach Volleyball. The events worked fantastically together and the weather certainly helped.
Scotland’s Fraser Dunlop & Stewart Caldwell, McKelvie/White and Brown/Stewart all came close to reaching the Semi Finals but it was left to Finland to take on Cyprus and Scotland faced Wales for a place in the showpiece.
Both semi-finals were straight forward for the number 1 & 2 seeds which meant Cyprus would face Wales for a position on the podium.
The 3rd Place match appeared to be one match too many for the young Welsh side, but they have learned a lot throughout this tournament. The Cypriot team were more experienced and tactically stronger.
The final was played in front of a large crowd on the promenade. The Scottish guys got off to a strong start with some big blocks from Miedzybrodzki. This could not be maintained as the Finnish side were consistent and created a level of pressure the Scottish guys could not deal with. The Scandinavian gents eased home in the 2nd set and took the winning trophy and the title of SCD Zonal Event winners.
With the Beach Volleyball Scotland Tour Finals taking place alongside this event, a fantastic weekend of Beach Volleyball closed the outdoor season with a bang.
