Day 1 reports from the VNZ club champs

Hear from the leaders of the Manawatū teams about how day 1 went....

Natalya Taylor on day 1 for the Rangers Women:

‘So this morning the women played Tauranga B. We were pumped and used the 12 sub rule to our advantage, by bringing on consistent servers and passers onto the back court – this seemed to work well for us. We lost first set 21-25 – covering the hitter let us down.

The second set we also lost – 12-25 – and yet again the cover needed work.

We pulled back in the third set to win 25-16 with great energy, then took the fourth set as well 25-16. In the fifth set it was a fight, playing point for point then just losing 18-20.

Game two was against the East Coast Thunder. In the first set we lost 13-25, we needed to activate our middles to run first waves and use a three person block to manage their pipe hits. The second set we lost 19-25, yet again blocking too wide as their hitters wanted to take the angle. Finally, the third set we lost 14-25.

A tough day today but in general we thought we played well and held our own. Hoping tomorrow we can get some wins!’

Antonio Sami on day 1 for the Scouts Men:

‘The first game for Scouts was against Waitakere – the winners of Division 2 in 2018. Unfortunately we got caught out with first game jitters (as most of our players have never played in club nationals before) leading to a 25-15 loss in set 1.

In set 2 the boys started to settle into a bit of a groove, but with the lack of passing and cover it was hard to stay toe to toe with the opposition, ending with a 25-21 loss. The 3rd set wasn't any better with too many self-made errors, and again lacking the urgency to keep the ball in play. It ended 25-17.

The second game was against Auckland Central Volleyball Club. We were able to go toe-to-toe with this team throughout all 3 sets that were played.

The 1st set we got to run more options for offence as the passes had started to improve. But our blocks against their ace outside hitter and 3D option was inadequate and again covering / defensive positioning was our downfall, finishing with 25-20 loss. In the 2nd set the same thing happened, with middle blockers not sealing and showing block seams which made it hard for passing. Serve receive could have been better and with more serve errors it lead to a 25-22 loss. In the 3rd set the boys showed fight and will to keep playing and potentially win. It was again point-for-point in the game until both teams reached 20 points then our back court couldn't keep us in for a fourth set, the third set ending in a 25-20 loss.

A lot of learning and adjusting to a new environment has been done and through these adversities it will help our players to grow and understand the game.’

Hugh Hawkey on day 1 for the Rangers Men:

‘We came into the first game against Pioneer pretty blind to how we were going to perform in such a high level of volleyball. Pioneer had been our first game opponent at the 2018 club championships, and that game had not ended well.

Although this game didn't start well, we came back to even up the set score to 1-1 before the game just slipped between our fingers. Set 3 finished in a 32-30 loss, and even set 4 was a close loss, 25-23.

Coming into the second game we knew how we could perform. Playing Tauranga, the overall 3-seed, was a rough start but after losing set 1 22-25 we were able to take the second and third sets (25-20,25-21). Tauranga rallied to win the fourth, and we were pushed into a 5th set.

Point for point we were able to take the win – 15-12 – and we're stoked with our accomplishment.

Overall we feel as if we have set a standard for the level we will play at for the following games.’

Follow the team via results pages and VNZ division 1 livestreams (Rangers only) here!