Junior Schools Cup Volleyball

Somerset College students recently participated in the Queensland Junior Schools Cup Volleyball Tournament. The tournament was played over three days and attracts over 2000 students from all over the state. This year the students continued training after the APS season and throughout Term Three and Four in preparation for the event.

For the Year 7/8 Girls team this was the first time many of them have been involved in a volleyball tournament of this size. Working with Miss Garland, the girls showed amazing improvement in the months leading into the tournament. The girls came away from day one winless but started to show great improvement. Highlights included strong serving from Shay Anderson and Momo Takahata as well as brilliant scrambling defence from Amelie Millar-Martin. Over the next two days the girls continued to improve and were able to win two games against tough Brisbane schools. Jenna Lee and Aanika Soni were dominant at the net and Zara Hosking and Ella Jin showed great ball control. All of the girls impressed with their resilience and the spirit in which they played the game.

The Year 8 Boys team have also been training throughout Term Three and went into the tournament with high expectations. The boys advanced through the pool play section of the draw with three wins and a loss. Strong serving from Hamish Kennedy and Raiden Kyaw were a highlight of the team play backed up by great work from our defensive specialist, Carlito Lamont. Unfortunately, the boys stumbled with a loss late on Saturday to Holland Park which put them out of medal contention. The boys regrouped on Sunday finishing off strong with a win. Our setters, Lachie Mathieson and Jed Collofello controlled the game with Eason Wang and Luke Oishi showing a strong presence at the net. The team was led by Ethan Grocott.

A massive thanks to Isabelle Garland for coaching the girl’s team and Lauren Grocott for managing the team over the weekend. Also, a huge thank you to parents for all of their support throughout the campaign with early morning and late evening drop offs and pick-ups from training. A special thank you to Eli Mathieson for her support and organisation over the weekend.