Junior Schools Cup Volleyball

Our Year 7 Boys and Year 8 Girls' Volleyball teams participated in the Junior Schools Cup Volleyball Tournament recently. 

There were 225 teams from schools all over Queensland who competed against each other at venues across the Gold Coast.

The Year 7 Boys playing in Division One competed against the top schools in the state. After Friday’s pool play the boys were undefeated and finished top of their pool. Strong setting and serving from Tima Korin and defensive play from Daniel Kim were the highlight of the team’s performance. Patrick Deacon’s smart decision-making gave the team plenty of scoring opportunities.

On Saturday morning the boys lost to the strong Craigslea Volleyball Academy team which put them out of medal contention. But the boys regrouped and won their remaining matches to finish ninth overall in the state with five wins and one loss. Strong spiking from Soham Agrawal and Michael Zeng showed dominance the net. They were backed up with outstanding serving from Philip He and blocking from Ethan Shen. The boys proved that they could match it with the best in the state.

The Year 8 Girls team competed in Division Two. With a number of students new to volleyball the team has been expertly guided over the last few months by coach Issy Garland. Over the first two days the girls had some up and down matches but were starting to show promise. Great setting and blocking from Aanika Soni and Ella Jin along with the defensive play from Amelie Millar-Martin and Zara Hosking were highlights of the team’s play.

On Sunday the girls needed to win their last pool play match to make it to the medal matches. They came out and played inspiring volleyball crushing the opposition in three straight sets. Livi Budd and Momoko Takahata were rock solid in defensive.

This put the girls into the gold medal match against an extremely strong team from Tin Can Bay. The final went to the next level with both teams playing volleyball well beyond their age and experience. Strong spiking and blocking by Maddi McLaughlin and Natalia Zotti kept the score line close in each set. Somerset eventually coming away with the silver medal in two nail biting sets.

A big thank you and Issy Garland and Paris Johnson for coaching and support over the weekend and Candice McKenna for your continued support for volleyball at Somerset College.