Volleyball
25 March, 2025
Preparations complete
The preparations are complete and now the real thing starts for Phantoms Volleyball Club in season 2025 of State League.w
Teams completed their final hit out in Ballarat at the weekend with the Premier one and
two women recording wins in their respective divisions.
The premier one women’s team featuring Volleyball Horsham’s Tamikah Dockrill went
through the tournament undefeated to qualify for the final against McKinnon.
In the final the team showed great character to come from two sets down to record a
thrilling five set victory.
Dockrill said the win has given the team great confidence going into round one.
“We’ve had 13 matches now to get ourselves ready for round one and as each game has
gone by we have been feeling more and more comfortable with our teammates," he said.
“Knowing our role and forming a connection with our setters has been the theme
throughout the pre-season, and I believe we are now more than ready for Latrobe Uni this
weekend.
“That final against McKinnon was great for our psyche as we had to dig deep and
eventually we wore them down.
“That is the sort of competition we’re going to come up against in State League so, to get
that five set win under our belts shows how far we have progressed in this pre-season.
“I’m excited for Saturday's matches against Latrobe Uni.”
That excitement is well justified as the team went into the Ballarat tournament without two key players.
“We were missing our two premier passhitters in Hilary Hannagan and Karly Hines, so to
record a win like that only sets us up for a big season," Dockrill said.
“The fact that those two players come into our team only makes us stronger, as Hilary is
on the Volleyball Australia pathway while Karly is a former Volleyroo and took the Superleague by storm last year in her return to the top level of volleyball.”
Volleyball Horsham’s Laelah Robertson, Sophie Quick and Paige Hemley were key contributors in the premier two women’s straight sets win over VFUM in their final.
Robertson resumed her pass hitter role throughout the weekend and her experience and
cool head shone throughout.
Hemley was good in her middle blocker role, while Quick was calm under pressure in her
defensive specialist role.
Round one for Phantoms sees games at the Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on Saturday, with the premier one men and women taking on newcomers to the premier state league Latrobe Uni.
The premier two men and women do battle with Latrobe Uni in their morning games and
Western Region in the afternoon.
The State League one men have a double header against Alliance Gold, while the State
League one women also have a double header against Carrum Downs Royals.
The State League two men face off against Carrum Downs Royals in their morning match
followed by Western Region in the afternoon.