Merritt and Hood searching for gold in home state
Day three of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event at Coolangatta saw athletes battle their opponents and the rain to progress through to the quarter-finals and the round of 12 on Saturday March 29.
Australian duo Oliver Merritt and Ben Hood came out on top in their three-set thriller against Thailand’s Netitorn and M. Wachirawit to progress through to Saturday afternoon’s quarter finals.
Twenty-three-year-old Queenslander Merritt is glad to be back competing on his home beach in his first tournament alongside Hood.
“It is unreal to be back in my home state,” said Merritt. “I graduated high school and started playing my beach volleyball career in Sunshine Coast, so coming back to Queensland is such an unreal experience.
Originally from Gatton in the Lockyer Valley, Hood is also happy to be back playing in his home state.
“It’s probably my favorite beach to play on,” Hood said. “You could say it’s my home beach, being from Queensland, but I love it.
“The home crowd has also been so good, and everyone seems to get around all the Australians.
“And it’s good to see all the younger kids coming up and wanting signatures and stuff – it’s really great.”
Their first campaign as beach partners has started strong, with the pair winning their first two games to earn themselves a quarter final spot as they hunt for gold on Super Sunday.
“We’ve only been paired up for the last couple weeks in the training environment, so that was just our second game and we haven’t lost yet – so it’s bloody awesome,” said Merritt.
Hood added: “Ollie is a great partner and he’s a great player. He’s got a lot of indoor experience, and he’s really helping me play a different sort of game.
“So yeah, I’m loving playing with Ollie and it’s great to have two wins under the belt.”
With Hood having won the opening round of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Glenelg in November with Solomon Bushby, and Merritt claiming a win with Jed Walker in Cobram, both players are in top form and looking to go as far as they can this week.
“It was an unreal experience to get the win in Cobram,” said Merritt. “Then in the following week, I was lucky enough to play a World Tour event in New Zealand with Jed Walker, where we made it all the way to the semi-finals and finished fourth there.
“That was my best result in a World Tour event, so playing in that event and then getting the win over O’Dea and McManaway from New Zealand yesterday – I am showing I can do it on the world stage against some pretty good teams which gives me the confidence.”
Like Merritt, Hood’s main target this year is to get himself in a position where he may be able to compete at a home World Championships.
“Yeah, the World Championships is the goal for everyone,” said Hood. “It’d be really great to play in our hometown, now that I live in Adelaide, so I am really looking forward to it.
“But for this weekend, the goal is to win it.
“But now we’re just aiming to play our best volleyball all the time.”
