Months of hard work paid off for Jayd Hunia and Piki Hemi on the beach volleyball court recently.

At the National Secondary School Beach Volleyball Championships in Mount Maunganui, Piki, 16, and Jayd, 17, combined to secure bronze.

It was an impressive effort from the Trident High School duo, who are both in their final year of school, and were the best-placed Eastern Bay team across the senior grades by some margin.

Piki said it was an awesome tournament and a great opportunity to play some tough opposition.

“We knew the competition would be tough. They had been training hard and were all aiming for a top-3 finish.

“We are really excited to have placed third.”

“We’re really proud. Looking back, it feels like a big accomplishment and we would do it all again if we could.”

Across the three days of competition, they played three matches on day one, two against Mount Albert Grammar sides and the other against Christchurch-based St Andrew’s College.

Day two saw them battle a Mount Maunganui College team and one from Carmel College, with the final day’s action pitting them against Rangitoto College, who they lost to in the semi-finals, and Cashmere High School in the battle for third and fourth.

The girls both started beach volleyball in year 10 and they haven’t looked back.

Jayd said there was much she enjoyed about the beach nationals: “Playing alongside my best friend and achieving success as a team, feeling as if we played well together throughout the tournament and playing at the high level we have always wanted to.”

The competition was as challenging as they expected but, because they had improved, it was easier that last year. However, it got tough heading into the quarterfinals.

A highlight for them was taking a set off Rangitoto, who hadn’t lost one all tournament.

They are grateful to their coaches Maia Westrupp, Kalani Ruri and Ani Doherty, who helped them in the tough games.

They said playing indoor volleyball put them in good stead for the beach season, with the techniques and skills able to be applied to the beach.

Indoor training, especially jump training, helped improve their beach performance.

Piki and Jayd have a busy couple of months coming up.

Piki is training for the NZ U19 youth Olympics team trials later this year, while Jayd is aiming for the NZU21 trials.

Both have been invited to NZ Beach Volleyball Camp this month at Mount Maunganui with national coaches. They’re also competing in Bay Champs later this year and are aiming for gold.

Piki and Jayd also placed second in the Bay of Plenty Secondary School Beach Volleyball Championships, losing in the final to a Whakatāne High School team, capping off an impressive season on the sand.