On 14 November, Niagara Park Stadium played host to the third Broken Bay Volleyball Tournament. The lead-up to the tournament wasn’t easy. Due to the HSC exams, the squad had little access to the court for training. However, the boys didn’t let this deter them. Instead, they made the best of the situation, turning up to as many lunchtimes as they could squeeze in and training outside on the College ovals. Thank you to all the players who trialled and continued to train even if they just missed out on the team.

Team Spirit and Dedication
The boys were an absolute pleasure to coach. Their camaraderie, team spirit and improvement throughout the training sessions and on the day was remarkable. Their sportsmanship was second to none—thankful, thoughtful, polite, and above all, enthusiastic.

The Results
Our team finished with a commendable record. They were only narrowly defeated in the grand final by a more experienced team. Here’s how the day unfolded:

• St Brigid’s Catholic College: Draw – Won 1^st set 22-18, Lost 2^nd set 12-22
• Mater Maria Catholic College: Draw –  Won 1^st set 22-9, Lost 2^nd set 7-25

As you can see, our 2^nd set was the thorn in our side.

We then had to win the game against St Peter’s Catholic College in order to progress to the top four teams. We were down in the 2^nd set and the boys rallied to come back 8 points in a row to clinch the set and game. This progressed us to the semi-finals where we played St Leo’s Catholic College who went on to win the tournament.

• St Leo’s Catholic College: Loss –  Lost 1^st set 14-19, Lost 2^nd set 12-21

In another cracking game in the bronze medal play off, we lost the 1^st set by 5 and had to win the 2^nd by 6 in order to claim 3^rd place.

• Bronze Medal Game: vs Mater Maria Catholic College: Win – Lost 1^st set 15-10, Won 2^nd set 18-12!!!

We finished a proud 3^rd place.

Player Highlights and Awards
Our Year 12 players:

• Rylee Hildridge – “put me on Coach”, terrific blocks at the net
• Eden Pearson – most improved over the course of the training and tournament
• George Barry – thoughtful, strategic, great blocker, pumped up after winning points
• Zach Sammut – Most Valuable Player – when he wasn’t elevated above the net smashing, he was diving on the ground to save the opponents smashes
• Tahj Regattieri – “put me on, I can do everything”, allrounder and team’s vocal motivator
• Levi Myers – cool, calm and collected, great digger, bling man.
• James Griffith – inspirational pep talks, loudest team cry for “Edmund” I’ve ever heard and an outstanding allrounder
• Angus Stewart – the team setter and only one who actually knew the rules
• Max Atkinson – silent but deadly, amazing elevation and smart placement of smashes.
• Lachlan Park – “I’m your server”, great at the back of the court and great at attacking the net

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