Volleyball
8 October, 2024
Volleyball competition heating up
With three rounds remaining before finals in the Volleyball Horsham Winter Season, the competition is starting to heat up for finals positions.
In A grade, while the top two spots have been sewn up by Phantoms and Hellenic Nuggets, Heidelberg, Tsunami and Rangers are in a race for third and fourth positions with all three in contention for a coveted finals spot.
This season’s competition has been one of the closest, with weekly high-standard games. No team can confidently say they are the premiership favourites. That is how even the teams are.
In the A Reserve competition, the top three – Heidelberg, Kaos, Waterhammers and International Rescue have all but booked its final spots, the bottom four are going to make it tough in the run home, as all four teams have improved as the season has progressed.
Similar to the A grade competition, any one of the top four teams in A Reserve can win, which will make finishing in the top two and gaining the double chance important in the run home.
The B grade competition sees the race for the top four narrowed to six teams. CHS Group are sitting on top of the ladder with HTLC Tigers hot on their heels. After that the next four teams are in contention to fill the last two spots on the ladder, with The Internationals, The Empire Spikes Back, Rigo’s Ralliers and Phantoms Black ‘N’ Gold all strong possibilities.
In C grade, the young Hurricanes team is showing their older counterparts a clean pair of heels, sitting well clear on top and, barring accidents, will finish in that coveted position.
The rest of the competition are all realistic chances to figure in the finals, making the remaining three rounds all that more important.
The Women’s A grade seems all set after Emily Hannan’s Tsunami upset Molly Carter’s Heidelberg last week, effectively ending any chance Heidelberg had of making a last minute dash.
Phantoms and Ballbusters have cemented their double-chance credentials with big wins last week, the Lakers and the Under 19 girls will be out to continue their improvement in the final three rounds.
The Women’s B grade has settled into a three-team competition between the HTLC Thorns and Ladybugs and the Glam Slammers.
Whichever combination of these three makes the grand final will be well earned, with whoever coming down to player availability in the run home.
The Junior competition is also a three-team race with Phantoms, Strikers and Stars Blue all capable of beating each other on the night.
Von Steiger Kids are clinging onto fourth spot with Vipers and HTLC Tigers breathing down their necks, waiting for any slip-up in the run home.
All the junior players have shown great improvement over the course of this season, displaying great skills and learning plenty about the game.
VIPERS TO SUPERLEAGUE FINALS
It is Adelaide’s turn to host the Mahindra Australia Superleague finals this weekend, with both the Melbourne Vipers men’s and women’s teams expected to figure prominently.
Both teams made short work of NSW Phoenix in the final round to book their tickets to the finals.
The men will now play Perth Steel in the first qualifying final, a match-up they are confident about after defeating them earlier in the season, while the women will have a rematch with Adelaide Storm, in a game only a few weeks ago, was touted as one of the best seen in this competition.
Vipers coach Josh Cowan was able to get quality court time for some younger members of his squad last week, resting key players like Paul Sanderson, Damien Whitburn, Dylan Lucchesi, and Nick Boesten.
Women’s coach Karl Lim will have his work cut out for him at training this week with injury clouds hanging over the head of number one setter Louise Bates and universal player Emma Lim.
But his team will welcome back superstar hitter Caitlin Tipping, which will give his team confidence they can go all the way.
Saturday's qualifying finals start at 130pm with the men’s first final between Vipers and Perth Steel, with the women’s qualifying final at 6 pm with both broadcast on SBS On Demand, while Sunday's gold medal matches will be televised live on SBS.