Junior girls gold
The focus for Volleyball Horsham now switches to the senior Victorian Country Championships following a successful hosting of the junior event at the weekend.
The success was made all the sweeter when the association’s girls’ team scored an exciting fourset win over Geelong to take the gold medal, while the boys’ team won silver.
But success is not just measured by what happens on the court. It is just as important to take into consideration what happens off the court as well, and this is where Volleyball Horsham is lucky.
The number of volunteers who put their hand up to assist with the running of the event was enormous, and through their collective efforts ensured the event ran smoothly, hence the reason why it was successful.
From administration to canteen roster to cooking barbecues to refereeing and assisting with managing teams, an army of volunteers made the event such a joy to be involved with. Volleyball Horsham now looks forward to duplicating this effort over the long weekend in June for the senior championships.
On the court, the battle for gold came down to which team had the most members that improved over the weekend. The Volleyball Horsham team’s improvement from game one to its final game was evident.
The girls got off to the perfect start, winning the first set on the back of an Ella Van Duren serving spree taking the score from 7-7 to 15-7 in the blink of an eye. Then Sophie Quick ensured the first set stayed with the home team when she busted the set wide open with a five-point serving run.
The second set was tense and exciting as very little separated the two up until 23-23 when Geelong scored the two vital points, to level the match at one set each.
The third set was tight as well until Paige Hemley at 18-19 served five points, four of which were aces to take the score to 23-19 to set up the third set win.
The fourth set saw firstly Clare Whyte go on a five-point run followed by Van Duren with a four-point run, taking the score from 4-5 to 13-7 and from then on it was all about holding firm, which the girls did and a Sophie Quick spike winner on match point sealed an amazing victory.
For the boys it was not to be as the Geelong team was just a little bit more advanced in its play, the visiting team displaying great skill in their straight-sets victory.
To give the players extra court time, Volleyball Horsham was able to stage a mixed championship in conjunction with the country championships.
A Horsham Navy team went through the tournament undefeated to score a great win over Geelong Blue, with Holy Trinity Lutheran College winning the bronze medal in a promising sign for the school’s volleyball program.
At the end of the country championships an All Star Seven was announced for each division and in the girls Volleyball Horsham members Grace Turner, Sophie Quick, Ella Van Duren and Clare Whyte were included in the honorary team, while Jasper Ponseca, Logan Young and Roland Brooke were successful in making the boys team.
The referee of the tournament when to Volleyball Horsham’s Shaun Bray.