Volleyball Nationals 2023
The NZ Volleyball Nationals is the biggest indoor event in New Zealand with 168 teams competing at the Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North. The national tournament goes over 5 days with teams playing 9 games and also being on duty for 5 games with 5 sections of 16 for the boys and 6 sections for the girls.
RHS Boys
We went to the tournament as the top Canterbury seed which put us as the 10th seed for the tournament in the top and in the top 32 draw. Our initial objective was to win the first 2 games guaranteeing us a position in the top 16 . Our boys achieved this, winning all 3 of their first pool games. Post section we won our first game but followed with 2 close loses which narrowly put us out of a quarter final. Regrouping, we went on to win our next 3 games which gave us an end result of 9th out of 80. An outstanding result, made possible by a season of commitment, hard work, dedication and team spirit.
A special mention and congratulations goes to Isaac Weir who was selected into the tournament team in recognition of his considerable impact on our passing lineup.
RHS GIRLS
Our girls went into the national tournament ranked 7th in Canterbury which put them in the division 3/4 bracket. During the week they played:
- Takapuna Grammar - lost
- Massey H S - lost
- Iona College - won
- Wellington Girls - lost
- Long Bay College - won
- Wellington East Girls - lost
- Marlborough Girls - won
A highlight for the team was getting to play on the Main court on Wednesday night when the court they were supposed to be on was running over 2 hours late. The game was supposed to start at 8.00pm but with it looking like it would start sometime after 10pm, the girls were fizzing and really excited to have the opportunity to play on the centre court and comfortably beat Long Bay College. Thursday saw our girls make the semis of division 4, playing Wellington East Girls. This match went to 5 sets and while our girls played extremely well, with the sets being very close, Wellington East Girls eventually took the win. The defeat meant RHS were on duty that night even though they had an early start the following morning for the bronze medal playoff. Our girls were determined to take a medal home and did they ever, beating Marlborough Girls 3-1.
Ka pai girls!