SPORT Volleyball
MiC: Rob Clarke TiC: Claire Nicolson
and four Year 9 students, competed well in both the Canterbury junior tournament at Pioneer Stadium and the South Island junior secondary schools tournament at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill. The boys placed 6th in the Canterbury tournament, following tightly contested and frustrating losses to top placing teams Riccarton High School and Shirley Boys’ High School. Despite this, it was fantastic to see the improvement in the team from the start to the finish of the tournament, both in terms of skills and teamwork. Harnessing that momentum and enthusiasm, after a full two weeks of training the team headed down to Invercargill for the South Island tournament. Here the boys got off to a great start, making
the top eight after two wins and a loss on day one. Following painful losses to Riccarton and Otago Boys’ High School on day two, the team faced Nelson College in the play-offs for 7th and 8th place. A convincing win in two sets resulted in the team placing 7th in the South Island, which was a great effort for a very new team. It is exciting to see the enthusiasm of many new players and the vast improvements made in such a short period of time. The future of volleyball at College looks promising indeed.
The year began with almost 100 students playing volleyball and 10 teams entered into the Canterbury secondary schools competition. The Senior A team was entered in the Premier Division 2 grade. They started the term with a loss, but then rattled off three wins in a row and a close 2–3 loss to top of the table Hillmorton High School. The team qualified for the final against Hillmorton, but unfortunately the match did not take place due to the Covid-19 lockdown forcing an early end to the Term 1 competition. A young, talented Year 11A side played in Senior Division 2 and were also denied a chance to play in the final against Ellesmere College – a team they had defeated earlier in the competition. Other teams continued to improve over the term, under the guidance of coach Stephanie Seinafo. The three junior teams learnt a great deal and this began to show when the competition resumed in Term 4. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the Senior A team did not participate in any regional or South Island tournaments in Term 1, as these were due to be played late in the term. After a chaotic start to the Term 4 volleyball season, again courtesy of Covid, the 10 teams entered in various divisions of the Canterbury competition performed well in what was a short but busy season. It was fantastic to see the development of many players through the expert coaching of returned international player Nicky Pio. Our Junior A tournament team, made up of six Year 10 students
Claire Nicolson TiC Volleyball
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