The South East Volleyball Association served up tough competition during its recent tournament.
The tournament was a big-bash style of volleyball with four players on a court instead of the usual six, shorter playing times and music to create a party atmosphere.
South East Volleyball Association president Ben Clark said 13 teams competed, including male and female teams from Geelong, a male team from Bendigo and players from Adelaide.
“Because we were waiting for Wulanda for our courts to be ready, we had a lot of people wanting to know when our season was on (and) we thought we would throw something on for the people to give them their fix of volleyball before we get into the season,” Clark said.
“We only had a couple of weeks to organise it, we still had one extra team on top of last time which was good in that limited amount of time. It was really positive coming from everyone afterwards and we had a lot of good feedback.
“We will certainly be looking to host another one perhaps later this year with a bit more notice and make it even bigger.”
Clark said the tournament was competitive and a local team called ‘Ninja’ won the women’s division.
“They were down early and lost the first set convincingly and it looked like it was not going to be our night, but to the girls credit they fought back and won the second set, then they took it to a decider and it was never in doubt in that last set from start to finish,” Clark said.
“We were really proud of them for showing that fight and sticking with it, they could have easily just given up after that first set, they were not really in the first set at all, but they pulled themselves together and played as a team and got it done.”
The Geelong and Bendigo teams battled it out in the men’s division grand final, with Geelong coming out on top.
“A couple of South East teams got knocked out in the semi-finals, they put in some really good effort,” Clark said.
“It was tight, a couple of points here and there just did not go their way and those other teams have Victorian state-league players playing for them.
“They pushed them right to the limit, a couple of points here or there could have seen a totally different scenario.”
Clark said the association’s Monday night competition had moved from Mount Gambier High School to the Wulanda facility, bumping their number of courts up from two to three.
“It was always a long-term goal of ours to move in there and once our numbers got too big, we just outgrew the two courts at the Mount Gambier High School gym,” Clark said.
“Once we got that big it was always a goal of ours and to see it come to fruition is just fantastic. We still like to continue our relationship that we have with Mount Gambier High School.
“We will continue to use that facility as a bit of a training facility.”
A men’s representative team, led by playing coach Braiden Hillyer and a women’s representative team are also bound for Warrnambool to compete over the upcoming long weekend.
“We are looking forward to seeing what they can produce on the big stage,” Clark said.
“Anyone who goes away and competes in these tournaments, you see their confidence grow when they come back and play in our normal Monday night competition.”
Clark felt positive about the upcoming season and encouraged people to give volleyball a try.
“Anyone can come and give it a go, that is the beauty of volleyball, we cater for all the skill levels, we have got all different divisions,” he said.
Registrations for the upcoming season can be made via the South East Volleyball Association Facebook page.
