The next to last seed in the 2015 FIVB World Championships, O’Dea and Watson are “newcomers” to the international scene and started this year by placing third and second in their first two Asian tour starts in Thailand. The Kiwis ended the 2014 season by placing fourth in the Asian continental championships in China. Neither player has competed in the “senior” World Championships, but O’Dea was fifth with Sam Wallace-Boyd in the 2009 under-21 worlds and Watson placed 19th in the 2006 under-19 worlds in Bermuda with Edwin O’Dea. During the London 2012 Olympic cycle, the O’Deas competed together as New Zealand was eliminated from the process by Kazakhstan.