Volleyball

Round 5 of the Santa Sabina Invitational Volleyball Competition took place last Saturday with Pymble winning 5 out of 5 games played, and two of our Volleyball teams having a BYE round. A big shoutout to our Pymble 1, Pymble 2, Pymble 3, and Pymble 5 teams who are still undefeated!

Teams of the Week

This week’s “Teams of the Week” (that’s right, two teams of the week) goes to Pymble 2 and Pymble 6! Please see below match report from Pymble 2’s captain, Caitlin Costello:

“We played a total of three sets, winning the first two and losing the third. The first set’s win heavily relied on serving (particularly Eva Liu’s (Year 10)) and using the opponents’ lack of confidence to our advantage. Everyone’s passing went reasonably well, with only a few shanks and zero aces from the other team. The team was talking and cheering, which kept everyone focused on each point. Coach Brian commented on how well we played that set. We connected the ball well between each other. Even though the second and third sets were more challenging due to the elements and our serving letting us down, our team won.  We will use our training this week to work on our team communication and strategies to improve our game this weekend.”

Our next match report is from Pymble 6’s captain, Chloe Lam, who reflects on her team’s 2 to 1 win against the undefeated PLC Sydney Year 7 Firsts:

“Pymble 6 is always up for a challenge when it comes to doing something we like. We are very excited and enthusiastic about our game every week, but this past weekend’s game decided our final standing for the crossover finals, and we were all very nervous. We always start our warmup sessions as soon as we arrive to prevent ourselves from getting injured and to get ourselves pumped up as much as possible for our game. We won the toss and decided to serve first. Although most of our serves were good, our team wasn’t connecting very well and that caused us to have a lot of slip-ups and mistakes happening. Due to our lack of movement, we lost the first set. 

As a team, we knew what we had been doing wrong during our first set and finding solutions to make us play better. We decided to change our strategy and move closer to the net, strengthening our defence.  While most of the teams we’ve played against did not focus much on attacking and blocking, this opposing team did.  It took our team a while to get used to the opposition’s playing technique. In the end, we managed to win the next set by thinking strategically about where each team player needed to be on the court to get maximum results. 

In the third and final set, we felt more prepared and determined to win this match. Our momentum of serving increased, scoring many points. We took control of the ball as much as possible to think about the next play. Our teamwork was effective, running for errant balls and making sure our connections were made without hesitation.  We were all too focused and determined to feel nervous, and we knew this game would decide our standing for finals. We won the final set, which led us to a 2 to 1 sets win.

My team and I were all very happy about winning the game while recognising what needed improving to become even better for next week’s match. Overall, we had fun playing volleyball together.”

Update from our Volleyball Captain’s State Team – Emma Sargeant

Last weekend my team, the NSW Phoenix Women’s Volleyball team, played the Melbourne Vipers in the Australian Volleyball League (AVL). Prior to this weekend, the Vipers had been undefeated in the competition. On Saturday the team, unfortunately, lost 3 to 1, but we managed to take a set from the Vipers. Although we lost, it was an important match for us to understand how they play. On Sunday the team and I were more than prepared to win against Melbourne Vipers. In a long 4 sets, NSW Phoenix won 3 to 1, which was an important win for my team heading into the finals. Next weekend we play Canberra Heat in ACT, this match will decide our placings before the finals in Gold Coast.

Chris Wood
Sports Co-ordinator – Volleyball