The Weekly Advertiser Horsham

Volleyball­ers start state prep

- BY DAVID BERRY

Volleyball Horsham members in Victorian state teams will start their training program this weekend, with the national junior championsh­ips on the Gold Coast in October as their goal.

Seven members have been selected for the state team program in 2018.

Tamikah Dockrill has made the Victorian White U19 team, Laelah Robertson, Victorian Blue U17, Cleo Baker, Victorian West U17, Otto Maroske and Will Saligari, Victoria West U17, and Lloyd Baker and Tuskan Mcalpine a Vic Gold U15 boys team.

Dockrill, Mcalpine and Lloyd Baker are representi­ng their state for the first time.

All three are Volleyball Horsham Academy members and have improved out of sight over the course of the past six months to get to this level.

I’m sure they will do their families, school and associatio­n proud on the Gold Coast.

Mixed results

Phantoms Volleyball Club enjoyed mixed results from round eight of the Victorian Volleyball League played in Horsham at the weekend.

The premier men recorded two strong wins against Victoria University to move within one win of the top four.

The highlight of the two wins was the state league debut of Nathan Berry, who did not look out of place in the premier men’s competitio­n in the state.

So much so, coach Damon Minotti has given the younger Berry the nod of approval to hold his position in the team for the remainder of the season.

The premier women took their record to seven wins and a loss and third position on the ladder with two four-set wins over Victoria University. The girls played some tremendous volleyball highlighte­d by their defensive efforts.

Both reserves teams split their results with Victoria University, while the division-two girls and division-three men had strong wins.

Tim Popple’s division-two men split their results with Dandenong, while the division three girls were no match for Dandenong in their two games.

School volleyball

St Brigid’s College year 10 boys have their sights firmly set on division one at the state schools cup in July after a runner-up effort at School Sport Victoria state finals.

The boys swept all before them in the round-robin section of the tournament to head their pool and comfortabl­y win their crossover semi-final.

In a rematch of their pool game, the team renewed acquaintan­ces with Monbulk and after taking the first set appeared to have their hands on the gold medal.

But the taller Monbulk attackers came to the fore and powered their team to victory, eventually winning 15-11 in the deciding set.

The State Schools Cup in July is where the St Brigid’s boys are heading with a step up to division one their goal.

A top-three finish will see them qualify for division one at the National Schools Cup in December.

 ??  ?? SET: Matt Berry sets the ball for an Adrian Fox spike. Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER
SET: Matt Berry sets the ball for an Adrian Fox spike. Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia