Hear about the second to last day of Volleyball Club Champs!

Hugh Hawkey on day 3 for the Manawatū Rangers:

'Friday saw yet another early start for the the rangers, with an 8:30 game against Auckland USO. Seeded third they were a big team and it was a must win for us to have a chance at a top 8 finish. The first set the teams were going through the motions with some tidy volleyball and we managed to put them away. The USO fired back however, taking the next two sets from us. We didn't let that get us down and returned the fire taking the fourth set after a good fight. The fifth set we came out with heart and played some tidy volleyball with few errors - taking the fifth and winning 3-2.

Our fate was then out of our hands, with a position in the top 8 potentially determined by Tauranga vs South Auckland Orcas. A 3-0 to Orcas pushed into 4th spot in the pool, with a cross-over against Playaz A in the afternoon.

The second game against the perennial Playaz was always going be tough, with the lack of depth of our team starting to show, The first set took us by surprise and the tidiness of Playaz resulted in them not only taking the first, but also the second and third sets.

The Rangers were happy with the performance and happy to say that we were beaten by the better team. Tomorrow (Saturday) we play off for 7th against the East Coast Old Boys.'

Joseph Mafi getting high on the set while Denzel and Hugh prepare to cover his attack..

Natalya Taylor on Day 3 for the Rangers Women:

'In the morning, the Rangers women had an awesome 3-0 win over Northland. All sets were very close though, and we were down by about 6 several times and made massive come backs.

Then into game 2 vs G-Force, which saw us on struggle street, eventually losing 3-0. A lack of energy on the court and confusion on taking the ball got us in trouble. In the first two sets we tried new combos and then third set we went back to normal where the effort was rewarded by a close set.

Big rest up for the girls tonight to play off for 9th/10th for the final game on Saturday.'

Antonio Sami on the Scouts men's third day:

'Day 3 saw us going up against Rotovegas first. We managed to pinch the first set away from the strong and hard hitting team with clean play and and low error count 25-19, but weren’t able to capitalise in the second set - seeing us lose 18-25.

The 3rd set saw a long and hard fought battle ending with 30-32 loss. In the 4th set Rotovegas brought out their best, beating us with a hard and consistent jump serve and also nailing some solid line hits which we weren’t able to pick up. The final set was again hard fought battle, but we lost 25-20. Although this was a loss the boys definitely took a lot out the game, being that the team we went up against play volleyball on the regular and have been together for years. As a recently formed team, we were encouraged to be able to keep up with their play.

The 2nd game of the day was against Uso B. Again we were able to steal the first set with clean play, good intensity and and hunger, but fatigue and lack of energy was brought upon the boys as we began to go downhill from then on. Unfortunately this loss was not a good loss as the boys had rolled over to the Uso team. Final result a 3-1 loss.'