Volleyball Horsham teams have enjoyed a successful Warrnambool Seaside Annual Tournament.
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A girls’ Academy team was runner-up in division three to arch rivals Bendigo Academy, while a men’s team made the semi-finals only to be denied a spot in the gold medal match by Bendigo Academy.
The girls started the round robin phase of the tournament with a close loss to Bendigo Academy then won all games after that, defeating South Gippsland, Victoria University, North West Pumas and Warrnambool to set up a rematch with Bendigo Academy in the gold medal match.
A nervous start gifted Bendigo the first set, but then the girls settled and they became more assured of their play, highlighted by their defensive efforts, which kept them alive in the rally. This determination paid off when they won the second set 31-29.
The third set saw the girls get off to a confident start and they jumped out to a 17-7 lead. They eventually won the set but the back half was not convincing, which gave their opposition a slight sniff that they were still in the game.
Into the fourth set and the girls jumped out to an 8-3 lead and it looked like they had worn their opponents down, but to Bendigo’s credit they fought the set out and tied the match at 2-2.
The fifth set was tight all the way with Bendigo getting their noses in front at 13-12. Two errors gave the set and the match to Bendigo 15-12.
The girls certainly would have learnt a lot from the defeat and it’s no mean feat to take Bendigo to five. The fact the team was 2-1 up should have been the signal to keep the foot on the throat of the opposition, but that never happened, hence the massive learning curve.
The men’s team came second in their pool with wins over Sunraysia, Mazenod and Bendigo Academy Navy with their only loss at the hands of the experienced Wallabies team.
The semi-final was a high standard game with Horsham taking the first 26-24 before Bendigo bounced back to take the second 25-18. The third saw Bendigo turn at the change 8-5 up and that’s when their experienced players shone through taking the set 15-8.
The boys didn’t take a backward step all weekend, considering at last year’s event they didn’t win a set.
To top off a successful weekend, veteran Tim Popple was the division three men’s MVP.
