Waimea Colllege reign supreme, Mot High brings home bragging rights
The winning moment for the Waimea College junior A girls team as they finished the South Island tournament unbeaten. Photo: Blake Armstrong/Armstrong Photography NZ.
For the first time in school history, Motueka High School will return from the South Island Junior Volleyball Championships with medals around their necks.
In just their third time attending the event, the Motueka High School junior girls finished third in the tournament's second division.
While Waimea College’s junior A girl’s volleyball team return as South Island champions after an unbeaten tournament and a finals win over St. Andrew's College.
Adding to their success, Hannah Granger was awarded tournament MVP and was named in the tournament team alongside Maddy Seymour.
After going unbeaten through the preliminary and classification rounds, the tables were turned in the semi-finals for Motueka High School as they faced Dunedin's Trinity Catholic College.
Despite winning in three sets over the team just two days before, the Motueka High Schoolers faced a far stiffer test in their second encounter.
After trading the opening two sets of the game, Trinity edged ahead to win the semi-final 2-1 as the final set went to extra points, 19-17.
The tough defeat set up a third-place match against Dunedin's Queens High School, who they had beaten in straight sets in the classification stages.
After winning the first set 25-20, they followed up with a 25-18 win in the second to win the game in straight sets.
For the emerging volleyball programme at Motueka High School, the result shows promise for the future of the sport in the region.
They now have a core group of players with a taste of winning as they enter the senior divisions and they have the local competition to continue to grow and evolve.
That's in no part thanks to the Waimea College junior A girl's volleyball team, who are South Island champions after beating St. Andrew's College.
The tournament, hosted in Dunedin, also saw Nelson Girls College come fifth, Nayland College come ninth and Garin College come 14th in the girl's first division.
In the boys' division, Nelson College A came fifth, Garin eighth, Waimea College 12th, and Nayland College 15th.