Hero photograph
Senior A Volleyball team
 
Photo by Mr Brett Dailey

Otago Volleyball Championships

Miss D Turnbull —

On the 9th and10th of April, Columba College had both our Senior A and B teams compete in the Otago Volleyball tournament at the Edgar Centre. The championship was full of intense competition and passionate players, with strong volleyball on display, despite no spectators.

Congratulations to all players, coaches and management on their Volleyball seasons. A special mention to Brett Dailey for the photographs and endless support. Please see the write-ups below by Jasmine Lobo and Tayla Finlay regarding their respective teams.

Congratulations to Ryan Dailey and Madi Lobb who were named in the Otago Volleyball Champs tournament team; and to Jasmine, Ryan, Madi, Lucy, Alex, Kayla, Keira and Delilah (Junior), who have since been named in Otago rep teams.

It has been an interesting year for our Senior A Volleyball team this season with a number of highs and lows due to our current environment. Although most of our season was cancelled, we were fortunate to be able to attend the Mainland Volleyball Championships earlier in March and compete at our weekly competition (unfortunately with no spectators). The final event of the term was the Otago Champs tournament which we went in as the #1 ranked team. We were excited and won all of our pool play games convincingly, beating Bayfield B, Queens, Mt Aspiring and Columba B, showing all our dedication to training has paid off.

We moved on to the semi-finals against Bayfield A who had been strong rivals in the weekly competition. Columba gained the lead after a tight first set 26-24. Long rallies were in every point with great defensive plays and particularly strong blocking from both sides. Crunch time came when Columba found themselves down 2 sets to 1 and losing 17-11 in the fourth set. The team showed fantastic attitude to mount a comeback to force it to a deciding fifth set. Our girls kept the momentum and found another gear in the fifth to take a 15-9 win, which we were really stoked with. This result placed us in the final against a very strong Otago Girls side who were unfortunately too good on the day beating us in a close game with some very high quality volleyball. Nevertheless, we came away with second place, an absolute blast was had by all and we all agreed it was the best way to end our term one season.

A big thank you to our coach Will White, manager Dawn Hope and all our friends and family for supporting us throughout this year.  

Jasmine Lobo

The Senior B team went into the tournament guns blazing. They were predicted to come dead last (13th place) in the top pool and had nothing to lose and everything to win. We surprisingly won against Kavanagh A in our first game of the tournament. Kavanagh was placed 4th in the competition, 9 spots in front of us. Having a win under our belts we gained some confidence however we were faced with an intensely close game against Mount Aspiring College. Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with the win. We went on to play Bayfield B twice, winning both games. We then went up against our very own Columba A team, it was a close game right throughout but the A team deservingly won.

The finals rolled around fast at 4:00 pm against Taieri A. Nerves were high, but the atmosphere was filled with excitement. There was support from everyone on and off the court. As finals began we, being the underdogs, kept the score tight and the intensity high. Taieri brought their A-game, whilst keeping positive energy on the court. After a long and tight game, an overwhelming joy came over the whole team as we realised we won and jumped from 13th place to 5th place.

Overall the day was filled with fun, laughter and good sportsmanship leaving each girl in the team appreciative of the 2022 volleyball season. The games were all tight and well fought. The girls played with G.R.A.C.E and dignity, whilst showing the skills that they have been training. The team was led by coach Olivia Bolwell, who showed passion and great support on and off the court, we are all deeply thankful to have had her by our sides the entire season.

Each and every one of the players in the Columba Senior B team should be extremely proud of what they have accomplished. We had some big swings, beautiful sets and impressive serves. We have come a long way girls. Cheers for the fabulous season. 

Tayla Finlay