Volleyball
14 May, 2025
Competition heating up
Phantoms bounced back onto the A grade winners' list, old favorites Waterhammers took top spot on the A reserve ladder and Wilson remain undefeated in B grade as the standout performances of round eight for Volleyball Horsham.
Phantoms made short work of Heidelberg in A grade, claiming a three-set victory on the back of great work by Tristan Rayes and Noah Werry, to remain on top of the table.
Werry returned to his customary setter’s role after a week off due to illness and combined well with Rayes in his middle attacking role, which continually kept the Heidelberg defences under pressure.
Heidelberg’s Tory Chapple hit plenty of winners while Nathan Berry tried everything in his setting role.
In A reserve CHS Group recorded the upset of the season in defeating Heidelberg in a close contest, resulting in Heidelberg tumbling from top spot on the ladder.
Chris Hopper was at his wily best for CHS Group, ably supported by Luke Johns who kept the Heidelberg receivers under plenty of pressure with his deceptive float serves.
CHS Group’s win enabled them to put an 11-point buffer on fifth-placed Cooked on the ladder, and barring any further upsets the top four looks set in A reserve.
While Heidelberg were throwing everything at CHS Group, on court two Waterhammers were making short work of Rangers, scoring a four-set victory and claiming the coveted top spot on the ladder.
Veterans Chris Baker and Michael Schneider were strong in offence for Waterhammers, ably supported by Sammy Das.
Luke McCallum’s Wilson dropped the first set against Phantom Masters and an upset was brewing, but McCallum’s team regrouped and took a close second set before steamrolling their opponents in the third set 25-7 to record a strong win and remain undefeated on top of the B grade ladder.
The loss saw Phantom Masters drop out of the top four for the timebeing but they will look to bounce back against second-placed WLC Tigers in their next game.
Set For Glory and WLC Tigers played a thrilling draw in C grade with both teams unable to be separated after an hour of play.
Tait McMartin was consistent for Set For Glory while Bonnie Grieger tried hard for WLC Tigers.
SSV state finals
Wimmera Lutheran, Murtoa and Horsham colleges will be represented at School Sport Victoria state finals this week.
Wimmera Lutheran will be represented by the intermediate girls’ team, while Murtoa and Horsham will have senior girls' and boys' teams participating.
All three teams will participate in pool play, requiring at least two wins to make the crossover semi-finals.
Two in state team trials
Wimmera Lutheran College’s Ilze Van Zyl and Murtoa College’s Paige Hemley will be giving their all on Sunday as they participate in under 17 and 18 state team trials.
Both girls have been training well locally and will be hoping to make the final cut, with 15 athletes in each age group progressing.
With Volleyball Victoria taking only one team in each age group to Perth for the national juniors in September, to get this far is testament to both girls' hard work and dedication.