Volleyball Victoria Country Championships come to Horsham

In what was a successful weekend for Horsham volleyball, six players ended up as tournament All Stars,

Horsham Volleyball Association president David Berry said the tournament had been a rare opportunity for the teams to enjoy a home crowd.

"Because we're so isolated (in Horsham), a lot of our friends and families don't always get to see us perform, when we travel," Berry said.

"We go to Bendigo to play state league, we go to Melbourne... we've been to the La Trobe valley, we've been to Werribee, we've been to Gippsland.

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"It's good for the players to have that support behind them, and that was reflective in the support we had on the weekend.

"It's always nice to play in front of family and friends... it makes them feel good about how they play."

The tournament was also a showcase for Horsham Volleyball Association beyond the court.

"It gave us a chance to showcase our volunteers and what we can do as an association. We certainly set the bar pretty high on the weekend," Berry said.

Also setting a high bar were some of Horsham's standout players, whose performances earned them individual accolades.

Three players, Cleo Baker, Edie Garth-Lindsay and Siobhan Robinson, from the Womens Division 1 side were named in the tournament All Stars team.

It's the first time the players had been named in Division 1 All Stars squad, with Baker and Robinson both featuring in Division 2 All Star teams.

Cam Robinson from the Mens Division 1 side made the All Stars cut, while Tyler Puls (Division 2) and Jasper Ponseca (Division 3) were also named All Stars.

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Womens Division 1 - Gold Medal Match v Bendigo

Horsham won a Silver Medal in Womens Division 1, surging into the final only to face a rampaging Bendigo side.

The Horsham volleyball president proud of how well the women's team went throughout the tournament.

"They started well, they won the games they were supposed to win and built as each game went by," he said.

"I was happy with them; to come from a bronze medal three years ago, to a silver medal. Hopefully the trend continues in Mildura next year."

Berry said a shifting lineup was one of the challenges the side had to adapt to, coming into the tournament.

"We had four girls step up into Div 1 for the first time; we had one of our girls come back who hadn't played for five years, and we had three out who would have been in our starting six," he said.

"There's a lot of promise there for the future, I was pleased at how they played."

Bendigo were a recurring foe for Horsham's women throughout the weekend.

"Bendigo beat us easily the first time, we took them to four sets the second time and pushed them hard in the final," Berry said.

"Cleo Baker was good early, until she hurt her ankle... Emily Hannah was good all weekend, Kara Johnson did.

"Everyone did their bit when they were required to. It was a good collective effort."

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Mens Division 1 - Bronze Medal Match v Sunraysia

Meanwhile in the Men's Division 1, Horsham narrowly missed out on a Bronze Medal, after a hot and cold few days on court.

Horsham assistant coach Brady King said Horsham's preparation helped it reach the final day of the tournament.

"The boys had a really good preperation; Dimitrious, the coach, put them through a fairly rigourous process," he said.

"It's been six-to-eight weeks the boys have been training together , which is not something that a lot of country championships teams are able to do.

"A lot of players might be living elsewhere... we've gone with a predominently Horsham-based lineup... it's good to get some actual local blokes in and able to train together. I think some of the results showed that."

However, the side were left wondering what could have been after a tense, four-set epic against Sunraysia came down to the wire.

Sunraysia jumped Horsham early to win the first set, however the home side edged their way back into the game with some skillful team plays.

In the end, the Rays ability to puncture Horsham's defences was too much and the visitors came away with the win and a Bronze Medal for the tournament.

"It's certainly disappointing... it's always tough against Sunraysia, they're an old foe; friends off the court and not at all friends on the court," King said.

King said a decision to cancel Sunday's game against Sunraysia in preperation for the bronze medal match may have backfired on Horsham.

"Yesterday we decided to cancel the game to rest up a bit... potentially that might have worked against us," he said.

"We're a very momentum based team, if we could have played last night and maybe got a win, we would have came in today with a bit more go about us."

"Instead we hadn't played since lunch time yesterday... but we had to do what we did."

During the match, King said the side's "experienced heads" stood tall and kept the side in the match after Sunraysia raced to an early lead.

"Nick Adamson is a very experienced and well-credentialed player; he hit at a very high level," King said.

"Nathan Berry probably set as good as I'd seen him set all weekend; Cam Robinson has been there, done that."

Despite the disappointing result, the tournament had a definite upside for King and the coaching staff; the debut of fresh new talent.

"The really exciting part was a couple of first timers, Clay Heard and Caleb Smith, both young lads, got to play a lot of volleyball in men's division one," King said.

"It's a great experience for them and it's really exciting for the future."

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