Vanuatu’s Matauatu & Miller long journey to Sochi

Sochi, Russia, May 4, 2016 – Traveling long distances to play Beach Volleyball at international stops is nothing new for Linline Matauatu and Pata Miller of Vanuatu, but traveling from Brazil to Russia in a 36-hour period to compete in the US$150,000 Sochi Open is tough.

“With left Fortaleza late Sunday and arrived here at 11 a.m. Tuesday,” said Vanuatu coach Jason Lochhead after Matauatu and Miller had placed fourth in the Brazilian stop for their best-ever finish on the FIVB World Tour.  “And of course, we had to play the first match here Wednesday, so that is a tough task.”

After boarding an airplane in Fortaleza for a flight across the Atlantic to Portugal, Lochhead and the two Vanuatu players missed their connection in Lisbon and had a 12-hour layover before flying to Moscow.  After a five-hour wait in the Russian capital, the trio flew to Sochi.

SLOW START

After a slow start against 26th-seeded Anastasia Barsuk and Alexandra Moiseeva of Russia by dropping the first set 21-14 in their 8:30 a.m. (local time) match, the seventh seeded Matauatu and Miller rallied to win the second set 21-17 and led briefly in the deciding set before being out-scored 8-5 to lose the third set 15-12 in the 39-minute Pool G match.

Matauatu and Miller play 23rd-seeded Alexandra Jupiter and Laura Longuet of France in their second match Wednesday and conclude group action Thursday mid-day against 10th-seeded Emily Day and Jennifer Kessy of the United States.  The Vanuatuans have a 2-0 match mark against the French pair while Day and Kessy defeated Matauatu and Miller last June at the United States Grand Slam in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“We are not as tired as we should be after three plane flights, a missed connection and 17 hours of …

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