Upweyvolleyball

Upwey High School Volleyball
Victoria's NO 1 Volleyball Program

Please Select a Page

14732 hits

New Zealand Tour 08 day 7
Upwey through to final 16 undefeated.

Wednesday 10.30 NZ
Upwey win fourth match to qualify for final 16 top of pool
Upwey defeated Tauranga B 2-0 25-21,25-23 to progress to the round of 16 and maintaining second seeding but needing to improve overall in skill to challenge for a medal. The match was comfortable for 90% of the time but sloppy serving and unforced errors towards the end of each set allowed our opponents to get close enough to challenge. All players have had one full set in all games and that is a positive to this stage.
A strong kill from 4 late in the first set by Steph Topp secured the 25-21 win. Michelle Bateup continued with unplayable serves in the second set allowing us a run of points which we needed in the end. Georgia McKercher and Naomi Hargreaves made valuable contributions while Steph Bruce proved solid on the back court.
Our next match is in our round robin group of 4 which contains the winner of another group and the two runners up from other groups. We must win at least 2 of these games to progress to the quarter finals,
We play at 4.30 nz then again at 7.00 nz

Upwey open the NZ Nationals with 2 wins.

Match Report.
9.00 am Tuesday NZ
Upwey 2 d Howick 0 25-10, 25-18
A rusty Upwey commenced their NZ campaign with a comfortable win against lowly ranked opponents (33) We opened on court 1 in the lovely Pettigrew Green Arena. We were keen to do the basics well in the early matches. Stef Topp was ill and could not play in this game but did get better in time for our second match. The first set lineup of Bateup, Bondini, Hargreaves, Bruce, Bourke and McKercher worked hard with Ymer coming on front court for Steph Bruce. Blowing away the cobwebs and making a few errors we were clearly a better team and took the first easy. The second set saw Lauren Lenko and Belinda Kirby start for Georgia McKercher and Sabrina Bondini and we struggled to string points together without skill error. Some good serving by Belinda Kirby gave us the points.

Match 2 12.oo nz
Upwey d Long Bay 2.0 25-20, 25-15
Steph Topp was well enough to take the court having shaken off an earlier stomach bug and had an immediate impact. Far from sharp the girls did enough to scramble through the first set. The second was a big improvement with some powerful serving by Michelle Bateup and good setting by Lauren Lenko. Sophie Ymer had a very good set being involved in a lot of points. The next two games are important to us to pass into the final 16 of the tournament and to head our pool. We seem to be working hard to get our play steady. We were watched by Trident. Billie was very vocal...bad Billie...she misses Aus. Next match at 3.30 nz (1.30 Aus)

Match 3 3.30 nz
Upwey d Havelock North 2-0 25-12,25-18,
After a good lunch and some time relaxing back in our rooms a pumped Upwey played some good volleyball on court 1 at Pettigrew Green Arena. Better use of the middle attackers resulted in domination of most of the first set. Steph Topp was in fine form early having fully recovered from illness. The setting was of a high standard with captain Michelle Bateup leading the way. The second set started brilliantly with a new lineup racing out to a 14-2 lead. Belinda Kirby hit two nice winners early. A lack of concentration by the group allowed the opposition a sniff but it was only momentary as we closed out the set.
This puts us through to the final 16 of the tournament. A win against Tauranga B tomorrow will see us go through top of the pool and maintain our 2nd ranking which is very important.

I am having some problems putting the pickies on the site, it is being naughty. The girls are proudly showing the Aussie Flag at every opportunity and singing Men at Work songs. They are happy as they work their way into the tournament. They are eating well and I am sure they miss you...even if they have not taken the time to do so themselves!

Victorian Premier John Brumby proved a very useful volleyballer as Captain of the Victorian Parliament team in their clash against our Year 9 girls. He seemed to enjoy the match and his time at Upwey High. Mr Brumby happily posed for many after match photos.
Here he joins up with rival captain Michelle Bateup and outside hitter Sophie Ymer for the press.

Enter your text here...

Day 5 Left Taupo at 10 this morning and headed east across the mountains to Napier...saw lots of sheep! Made it to Napier to a lovely Tourist Park and settled into the accom. Another shopping trip with lots of bargains...do these girls ever stop shopping. Then to the opening ceremony which was short but good...lots of Haka.
We play at 3 games tomorrow, Tuesday with the first at 9.00 am NZ time.
(7 am Aus) then at 12 nz and at 3.30 nz. We will post results as soon as we can and you should be reading them when you get up.
All still well and happy and looking forward to playing. Very determined to do well. Thanks for the messages...Wendy, Naomi should have rung you by now...Bruces much appreciated messages....come on the rest of you leave us a message....
check out the Zorb photos, Jetboat and Rafting on the Photo page..incredible.

Check out the special page for the tour in the page select (left down the bottom for pickies and stories about our awsome time in NZ)

Way to go Rory Sloane!!!!!!!from all the girls in NZ

Its day 4 and time is flying. We have fitted in a lot of activities and are now relaxing doing some shopping therapy at Lake Taupo. Its beautiful 24 degrees looking across the huge lake to snow capped mountains in the background.
We have already done the following. Sky Bungee in Auckland (frightening)
White Water rafting in Rotorua (challenging and hard work) Sky Swing in Rotorua (maximum screams) Lugeing in Rotorua (Speed demons) Zorbing in Rotorua (incredible fun) Jetboating through the rapids at Lake Taupo (screams, fun, exhilarating) Now we are relaxing at the house in Taupo..girls who have been before will know what we mean..its great.

Parents...your little girls are behaving themselves (except Bad Belinda but thats a given) Everyone is healthy though a little tired. Tonight is a relaxing night ready for our trip to Napier tomorrow where we will settle in for the tournament. I hope they have rung home..we told them to.
Lenko family...your mum is crazy how do you cope? I will let the photos do all the talk and will now fill you in daily as we have internet access from now on....any stories...well what goes on tour stays on tour....except and keep it to yourselves..the mums may have gotten some nice guy fired at Zorbing....more later, and some stories of fairly common behaviour by the mums on the jetboat river banks.
As for the kids well Belinda does a great Indian accent in a phone booth(she can tell you the rest) Naomi and Georgia bought the biggest bag of self mix lollies ever purchased at Pack and Save...2.5 kilos!
For the girls that went last year we met up with Savanah and Hayley..our girls got them to keep saying Steffi with their NZ accents! Way to go Belinda. Peter Bateup and myself are trying to remain sane but its hard work surrounded by 13 women....... talk to you tomorrow..and please leave us some messages on the sight.

Match Results Here. New Zealand 07

Monday 9.00 am NZ (7.00 am Aus)

Upwey defeated LongBay 2-0 25.7, 25.11

A solid first up performance against relatively inexperienced opposition, still the job had to be done.
A large crowd looked on to get a glimpse of the Aussies as we methodically put away Long Bay. All players had good court time. Angela Butler played well with strong serving and blocking. Carolyn Sloley (Camel) was a dynamo on the backcourt and Tarlae Fudge led the team beautifully.
Our next match is 1.30 NZ against Hamilton

Tuesday Upwey D Hamilton 2-0 25.8,25.8
Another very businesslike performance by the girls. Serving is a strong point with many aces finding our hard float serves difficult to handle particularly Angela Butler who continues to impress. An improved game by Angelique Doulgeris who moved into the centre for the second set.
The team continues to be confident although aware that matches will get harder as the week continues. The task at the moment is to make top 2 in our pool of five to move into the final 16 of the tournament.

Tuesday 5.30 Upwey D Otemoetae 2.0 25-7,25-22
A very pleasing first set with some aggressive serving and strong backcourt hitting from Camel and Angelique. Tarlae's jump serve is causing havoc. Lauren put in a good set and gained some confidence. Kiah was very consistent and created a lot of point scoring opportunities.
The second set was not so good, a bit of complacency meant that we had to battle at 20-17 down but some good serving by Lauren got us through. We cannot ease up even for a minute or the New Zealanders will be all over us.
The girls are still very up beat, fit and confident.
Tomorrow we play our final pool game against McCaulay who are also undefeated. They are tall islanders and very agressive but we feel we have the skill to grab top of pool and move into the second phase in a strong position.

Good luck to the Year 7s in the State Finals at MSAC tomorrow. We are all thinking of you. Kick some ass.

Photos.
Top left. At the airport. All ready to go..don't we look good.
Top right. This sign did little for the first time flyers confidence.
Middle left. All dressed up and ready for food. Auckland Fri
Middle right. SKY BUNGY Auckland city Friday night.
How brave (read here stupid) are these girls
Bottom left. Goodbye girls!