Mount Maunganui Matt Hewitt's world surfing aspirations remain alive after advancing through two reperchage rounds at the 2015 ISA World Surfing Games in Nicaragua.

Mount Maunganui surfer Matt Hewitt. Photo: Col/Surf2Surf.com

Though it wasn't all good news for the Kiwi side losing its first surfers through elimination on a third straight day of clean 1.5m plus waves – Dune Kennings, Whangamata, and Piha's Zen Wallis.

The first team rankings have also been released with New Zealand sitting in the familiar position of 10th place. Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Portugal lead the team standings in first equal.

It was Hewitt that used his vast international experience to stay calm during both of his heats waiting for the best waves Popoyo Beach had to offer.

He lead the men's contingent for the 2014 edition to Punta Negra in Peru.

In Nicaragua, Hewitt posted heat totals of 13.16 and 13.60 in rounds one and two respectively in heats that book ended the day's action.

'With it being so hot over here I went down an hour before my first heat this morning and then went home to cruise in the air conditioned room and stay out of the sun to save some energy for my heat this afternoon” says Hewitt.

In his final heat of the day, he opted for the left handers runners off the a-frame peak, his first wave scoring a 6.83 out of a possible 20 points.

'It was a slow heat so it was good to get that score at the start and then I knew I just needed to get a back-up and be patient so my nerves were pretty good” said Hewitt whose last wave did not come until the final minute of the 20 minute heat.

Hewitt advances through to the third reperchage round but has a long way to go until he gets to the business end of the event.

'I am just going to keep to my strategy in the next heats. It's a difficult wave to surf so you really have to be picky in regards to which waves you catch. There's going to some long days and it will be about being consistent in each performance.”

Eliminated from the event today were Wallis and Kennings. Wallis advanced through to the second reperchage round but placed third in his final heat of the day missing progression. Wallis finished the event in 49th place.

Kennings had a less than desirable event placing third in his first reperchage heat to finish in 73rd overall.

Day four will see the four remaining Kiwi surfers in action including Paige Hareb, Taranaki, and Whangamata's Ella Williams in the Women's Division as well as JC Susan, Dunedin, in the men's qualifying rounds and Hewitt in the men's reperchage rounds.

Team Points 1 Peru 5120 1 Costa Rica 5120 1 Ecuador 5120 1 Portugal 5120 5 Mexico 4690 6 Argentina 4630 6 Puerto Rico 4630 8 USA 4594 9 Australia 4570 10 New Zealand 4104