By David Berry

Volleyball Horsham Heat women’s team scored two strong wins against Derrimut Knights in round four of the Victorian Volleyball League to remain on top of the state league one ladder.

A straight sets morning victory was followed by an afternoon two-hour five-setter, with the team coming from two sets down to claim the win in strong fashion.

While the women were winning the men were not as lucky, going down in their first game in a close three-setter, but showing plenty of improvement as the day progressed, pushing Derrimut Knights to five-sets in their second game.

Heat vice-captain Cleo Baker was full of praise for captain Laelah Robertson for the impact she had in the morning game, as well as setter Hannah Whyte.

“Laelah was brilliant in her first full game as a pass-hitter, after being managed through the first four games with a shoulder injury, and she hit the ground running, hitting plenty of winners and serving well,” she said.

“Hannah set really well and gave our hitters an armchair ride. She was great.”
Baker said the return game in the afternoon was a completely different story, with Derrimut Knights coming out with all guns blazing, while the coaching strategy of Volleyball Horsham Heat did not work as planned.

“Dave and Molly realised part way through the third set that our strategy wasn’t working, so they made a change, which worked for us in the end,” she said.

“We could see Derrimut Knights were getting tired, as their error rate began to increase, while we were able to maintain our consistency throughout the last three sets, even though we had to pull out all stops to win.”

Baker said the most pleasing aspect of the win was the lessons they took from their previous five-set loss against Dandenong.

“We played strongly throughout the fifth set, and at the change we made sure to keep our focus and push right through to the end, which was good,” she said.

For the men it was a case of so near yet so far as they continue to search for that elusive first win.

Captain Noah Werry said his team did a lot of good things in their two matches but could not counter their taller, more athletic opponents.

“We defended our hitters really well, recycling a lot of balls to give our hitters another chance, but we just couldn’t convert,” he said.

“Derrimut Knights kept throwing these monster hitters at us and no matter how hard we tried they were hitting over the top of our blockers.

“In the end our defenses, as brave as they were, could not sustain their efforts for a full five sets.”

Werry was impressed with vice-captain Tyler Puls and libero Tim Carter, with both boys playing their best games of the season.

“Tyler was at his sneaky best, winning plenty of points with his ability to find a gap in the block, or a hole in the opposition defense,” he said.

“Tim was at his best, getting under the skin of the opposition with his chirp and his ability to wear a spike in defense, enabling his team to stay in the rally.

“We know we aren’t that far away and that the team is improving with each hit out, so once again we’ll put our heads down and backsides up at training and prepare as best we can for Monash and KVA on May 23.”

The entire May 6, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!