By David Berry

The Phantoms have stolen a march on their opposition in Volleyball Horsham Women’s A competition, going through the first round undefeated and sitting well clear on top of the ladder.

Celebrating her graduation, the association’s premier female spiker Cleo Baker came, saw and conquered the under-19 girls’ team in the latest round of matches in a show of power.

Baker was on fire as she blasted her younger opponents off the court, both in attack and on serve, and was well supported by her teammates who fed her the ball with precision.

The win was Phantoms’ fifth for the season and has them on 30 premiership points, well clear of Ballbusters in second place on 19, with the Uunder-19 girls in third on 18 and Lakers rounding out the top four on 16.

In Women’s B competition, the youngsters are showing the way with the two Lutheran teams occupying first and second on the ladder, followed closely by Horsham College in third.

Tonight will see a top-of-the-table clash as Janay Van Buuren’s Thorns take on Ilze Van Zyl’s Ladybugs in a mouthwatering clash.

Thorns will look to Van Buuren to lead the way, especially with her deceptive serve and presence at the net. 

Van Buuren will look to Matilda Horvat and Breanna Hawken to hit plenty of winners.

Van Zyl’s Ladybugs will be keen as mustard to keep their good form going, and after showing good signs at last weekend’s Bendigo tournament, the girls will be up for the fight.

Mixed success at Bendigo

The Under-19 boys were the shining light at the Bendigo Junior Tournament, going down to Bendigo in a tight semi final.

The boys showed good fight against their opponents, dropping the first set 22-25 after being the first team to 20. They fought back to take the second comfortably and forcing a decider, which went down to the wire, eventually losing 15-17.

The boys hope to carry that form into the Junior Country Championships in two weeks’ time.

The Under-19 girls would have taken plenty from their campaign, going down in their cross-over qualifying final against the Vic White Under-15 team 24-26, 12-15.

At 17-24 in the first set all looked lost, but the girls fought hard to level the set, in a positive showing.

Other teams would have benefitted greatly from the experience, which will set them up nicely for a fortnight’s time.

Vipers on the board

Melbourne Vipers’ men are on the board in the Mahindra Australia Volleyball Superleague, making short work of Canberra Heat winning 4-1.

The women also continued their good early season form with a 4-1 result over Heat to head the table after two rounds.

This week the Vipers take on Perth Steel at MSAC with a packed house in anticipation.

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