Illawarra athletes have shone at the third and final leg of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Wollongong.
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Junior and senior competitors from the Illawarra took part in the revamped tour which wrapped up at North Wollongong Beach on Sunday afternoon.
The juniors highlighted the opening two days of the tour, with Woonona teenager Adax Brienen living up to the hype as volleyball's next big thing, partnering with Adam Fejes (NSW) to win the U19 boys comfortably.
The duo entered the tournament as favourites after winning the last Tour event in Brisbane and the top seeds did not disappoint and made the final without dropping a set. In the final they faced second seeds Asher Gill (NSW) and Felix Birke (NSW), who jumped out to an early lead but Brienen and Fejes squared the ledger in the second set before taking out the decider to win 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-8).
"It feels really great to win it on, basically, my home beach," Brienen said. Fejes added: "It's really good to back it up from Brisbane where we got gold. There was a bit of pressure but we got it done."
Like Brienen, Mali Towers and Lara Limbrick took advantage of competing on home sand with the Wollongong locals winning the U19 women's tournament.
The second seeds were forced into a tough semi-final hitout against top seeded South Australian pairing Leilani Burnell and Georgina Vanloo. In a match which went for 116 points - the longest across both days of competition in all four categories - Towers and Limbrick eventually triumphed 2-1 (21-17, 21-23, 18-16).
In the final, third seeds Oriwia Noble (NSW) and Remy Song (NSW) shot out to an 11-3 lead, however the locals recovered to take the set 21-18. The second set was just as hard-fought, but eventually Towers and Limbrick took it by the same score to earn their place on top of the podium.
"It feels pretty good; pretty stoked because we've worked pretty hard to get where we are, and it's the last tournament of the season for us as well," Towers said.
"It's nice to see everyone get together in our community and to play on our home beach and to win on it just feels amazing."
In the under 21 men's competition, Queensland pair Ben Hood and Lucas Josefsen repeated their victorious run in Brisbane by claiming gold over seventh seeds Jarvis Page (NSW) and Jacob Baird (QLD).
Cassie Dodd fell just short of winning her third straight under 21 women's competition, as she and Stefanie Fejes (NSW) went down to Elizabeth Alchin (WA) and Kayla Mears (QLD) 2-0 in the final. Brienen, Towers and Limbrick also competed in the Open men and women's categories respectively but were knocked out in the round of 16.
Cordeaux Heights player Matt Gigliotti and West Wollongong's Hugh Akmacic finished in equal fifth-place in the division two challenger series in the open men's.
This result came after the relatively new pairing won the open men's in the Canberra leg of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour.
For the record Chinese pair Xue Chen and Xia Xinua won the women's elite on Sunday in Wollongong.
They are both Olympians. Chen is 2013 World Champ and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist.
Stefanie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic came second, with the bronze medal going to Britt Kendall and Jasmine Fleming.
Chris Blake and Bryce Poland took out the elite men's after downing Danielle Acconci and Mateusz Zieba in the final. Lucas Josefsen and Ben Hood teamed up to win bronze.
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