A never-say-die attitude in defence and smart serving enabled Volleyroos to upset ladder leaders Shados Inala in round seven of Volleyball Horsham’s A grade competition.
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Lead superbly by middle attacker Chris Hans Ca-ayon Galo, Volleyroos made Shados Inala look like also rans, as they continued to pick up everything their attackers could throw at them.
Then when Galo rotated to the front line no matter what block the Shados Inala players put on him, he was able to penetrate the attack and defence winning point after point to keep his team in second place on the ladder.
If it wasn’t Galo causing havoc, it was Volleyroos’ other middle Paddy Sherry who made life tough for the opposition.
Working nicely with setter Kara Johnson, Sherry used his trademark quick attacks to break up the Shados defence. If he wasn’t winning points off spike, Sherry blocked the best he has all season.
“Shados Inala missed consistent passer hitter Shaun Bray and Will Saligari employed his trademark short serves to great effect, which proved telling in the end as they struggled to get the pass into their setter,” said Volleyroos captain Kara Johnson.
Volleyroos opened up a two sets to love lead causing Shados Inala captain Tim Popple to change his line up.
“We had to do something different, as Chris was reading the attack so well, which enabled Kara to get the ball to Paddy more often than not and he destroyed us,” said the veteran spiker.
“We started Cleo Baker with the ball in the third set and she got us off to a start which was crucial.
“We also moved young gun Lloyd Baker to opposite to give us a little bit more blocking strength on Chris.”
Shados Inala bounced back to win the third set and set up for a massive comeback in the fourth, but it was something that didn’t eventuate as Volleyroos kept up their attacking options through Galo and Sherry, eventually winning the fourth set and the game three sets to one.
“They were too good for us in the end no matter how many line up changes we made,” said Popple.
In the other A grade game the young Raptors boys blew chance after chance to chalk up their first win of the season, eventually going down to Phantoms in four sets.
The St Brigid’s boys are on track for National Schools Cup at the end of the year, despite injuries to key players Aiden O’Connor, Bailey Thomas and Harry Combe.
They have time on their side and will look to ramp up their preparations in term four, as they set their sights on division one at Nationals this year.
