The National Secondary Schools Volleyball tournament was held in Palmerston North from 22nd to 26th March.  Three venues throughout Palmerston North were used, the Central Energy Trust Arena, Massey University, and Cornerstone Christian School. The event was well attended with 176 school teams participating and is a massive boost to our local economy. 

PNBHS had two teams in the competition, both in Division three/four for the first round of games. The A team won two of their three games and the B team won all three of their games. This meant that both PNBHS teams were in Division three for the next round of games. Both teams fought hard, but unfortunately, some close calls and hard opposition meant that both teams ended the pool play in the bottom eight. 

The next round of games were cross-over games. Again the teams fought hard, the games were close, but losses meant that they both ended up in the bottom four, this meant there was a high probability that both PNBHS teams would play each other in the next round.  However, this did not eventuate with the A team playing Nayland College and the B team playing Nelson Boys’ High School, a team they had already beaten in the first round of pool play, we could not repeat the win, with Nelson BHS beating the B team (3-2 sets). 

This set up the last games to finalise placings.  A switch of opposition from the previous round saw the A team beat Nelson Boys’ High School and the B team beat Nayland College, after initially being down 2-0 they fought back hard and won 3-2. The final placings were the A team finished 13th in Division three and the B team finished 15th in the same division. 

Thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to assist with the teams (playing until midnight one night), it was appreciated by all the students. Big thanks to Heath Williams, an old boy of the school who coached the B team and kindly gave up his time. Congratulations to Zac Engu and Campbell Woolley who have been selected as members of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Volleyball team.