Congratulations to Sydney North Volleyball’s Division 2 team who won silver at NSW State Cup #1 2015 after a hard-fought weekend, frequently coming from behind to clinch sets and steal games.
Coming 2nd in their pool, Sydney North matched up against Blue Bees 2 in a qualifying final. With organised, clinical play, the ladies demolished their opponents to set up a semi-final clash with university powerhouse UTS. Strong serving and smart play unsettled UTS’s young squad for a 25-18 result in the first set. UTS came back in the second set, more composed with Katelyn Taylor difficult to stop on serve. They took the second set 25-22 just before the buzzer but it was not enough, with SNV through to the Gold final with Newcastle on countback.
Having lost narrowly to Newcastle in the round robin, Sydney North were confident they could match it with undefeated Newcastle, but a slow start saw them go down in the first set 25-12. Behind in the second set 15-12, all looked lost until the fighting spirit that has seen them through the weekend turned the game around with strong hitting, blocking and smart play. Sydney North and Newcastle were point-for-point 16-16, 18-18, 22-22 to bring up set point 24-23. As luck would have it, Newcastle won the point and their strongest server stepped up to close the match 26-24.
Great work and congratulations to all the ladies, especially Catalina’s awesome roofs, Alex’s leadership and strong hitting into the corners, PC’s agile setting to reach every pass, Hieu’s versatility through Libero-outside-universal-setter, Sandy Lau’s crazy defence, Audrey’s strong serving and setting in universal, Kristy’s energy and smart tipping and Esther’s tricky top-spin which you just can’t read for cross or line.
Sydney North Volleyball Division #1 team also played over the weekend. In a difficult pool, SNV Div1 fought bravely against Dragons and Manly, leading at one point against Dragons 17-7 and Manly 24-18. Strong serving from both Dragons and Manly etched away at our lead, and SNV Div1 went down 2-0 in both matches. A win against Jaguars gave SNV 3rd place finish in the pool, and a crossover matchup with UNSW. A convincing win (25-14, 25-15, 3-1) against long-time rivals UNSW was a great way to finish the weekend.