Volleyballers set for grand finals

Another exciting season of volleyball will reach its finale tonight when Volleyball Horsham presents its grand final night for all grades.

An A Grade grand final involves Shados Inala doing battle with New York Nuggets.

Shados Inala will go in as favorites, holding a 3-1 winning record over the Nuggets, the most recent meeting in the second semifinal resulting in a Shados Inala four-set victory.

Shados Inala will look to veteran Tim Popple and young gun Jack Hannan as its go-to players.

Popple has a wealth of experience under his belt, while Hannan has been the player of the competition this year with his consistent hitting and strong blocking. Their fate will rest in the hands of setter Tim Carter. Carter suffered an injury at country championships and is in a race against time to be fit for the grand final.

Nuggets have three big hitters in Erik Cornelisse, Chris Hans and Jon Fitzgerald.

How well setter Kara Johnson distributes the ball to these three will prove crucial to the outcome.

In B Grade, Waterhammers will face against the Von Steiger Shadows.

Their last meeting was in the second semifinal when the old warhorses of the competition, off the Waterhammers, won in five sets. Andrew Wundke, Chris Baker and Ash Hopper are the key players in the Waterhammers team. If they can combine well again, they will make life tough for the Von Steiger Shadows.

Emma Avery is the key setter for the Von Steigers and her ability to get the ball to key hitters Adam Harrison and Nathaniel Leonforte will determine the outcome of this contest.

In C Grade, a new premier team will be crowned after the Piccolo Nuggets disposed of reigning premier Murtoa Railway in a preliminary final.

The young Nuggets team will face a stiff contest from Von Steiger Shadows, who have Elliott Kelly and Frank Sweet as their two main players. Blake Turner and Oliver Garth-lindsay played well for the Nuggets in their preliminaryfinal win, and if they play as smart as they did in that game, will be hard to beat.

In a juniors grand final, Dream Team will go into battle against HC Rebels, who have won three finals in a row.

The Dream Team has Iggy Kearns and Bailey Brennan as key passers, while Ryan Gebert, Ben Dunn and Rohan Sanders are strong servers.

But Rueben Ferguson, Tayla Eltze and Gavin Brown played well in their preliminary-final win and will be confident of causing an upset.

Grand finals start at 6pm.