Clash of first-round winners
One team will take an early advantage on the competition tonight when the battle of the first-round winners highlights round two of Volleyball Horsham women’s competition.
Rangers and Bingo Biddies will face off against each other and enter the game on the back of solid first-round victories against Academy and Heidelberg, respectively.
Maddison Watts and Mackenzie Camilleri were on the top of their game last week and will be confident they can continue that good form.
But Kara Johnson’s Bingo Biddies got better as the game wore on last week, despite losing key player Kymberley Murray to injury early in the contest. Hannah Birch and Rej Smith both stepped up and helped the Biddies get over the line.
The first game of the night sees the unveiling for the first time of Emily Hannan’s Tsunami, when they take on Molly Carter’s Heidelberg.
Hannan has enticed former top juniors in Jess Warrick and Amy Lehmann back to the game, while Hannah Sherry and Lily Snowden have been training well so far this season.
New players Brittany Bates and Cassie Hateley round out a new-look Tsunami.
Carter’s Heidelberg will be better for the run last week, with new players Aymee Hawke and Scarlett Hand showing good skills in their first games.
In A Grade, Phantoms got off to a dream start when they proved too strong for Heidelberg, while Rangers were good winners against a depleted Hellenic Nuggets.
With Phantoms taking on the Nuggets tonight, all eyes will be on how the Nuggets respond after last week’s loss.
The second game sees Heidelberg keen to bounce back against first-round winners Rangers. For Heidelberg, much will depend on the availability of key hitter Jordy Weidemann.
Rangers look a settled team with Jack Hannan in good touch, ably supported by the Snowden brothers, Tyler and Jack.
In A Reserve, the match of the round sees first-round winners Hurricanes do battle with Mark Block’s Blockparty.
The Hurricanes could not have been more impressive in accounting for Kiss My Ace in round one, while Blockparty was right in its contest against Von Steiger Shadows, but could not seal the deal when it counted most, in their three-set loss.
Hurricanes’ Ruben Ferguson teamed well with the big-hitting duo of Alex Baker and Joey Nagorcka, which means Blockparty’s Mark Block and Lachie Gillespie will have to do as their name suggests and score points off their blocking to keep the two big-hitting youngsters quiet.
In other games, it will be a toss of the coin between Holy Trinty Lutheran College Raiders and Murtoa Geckos, Waterhammers should be too strong for Kiss My Ace, while an intriguing battle looms between Heidelberg and Von Steiger Shadows.