Yarra Ranges Volleyball Club

Women’s Div. 1

Round 5  -  Melbourne Falcons (3) def Yarra Ranges (2) 

Well done to all the girls, I was very pleased with how everybody played. A disappointing result in what was an excellent, hard-fought game. I guess you could call it a positive loss, for now the girls know that they still have a lot of work to do and effort needs to pick up at training.

We were down 2 players in Suzi and Kat, but they were covered by Josie, Danica and Emily who has come back from injury. All three did their jobs well with the surprise being Danica who usually libero’s.

Mandy, still suffering a shoulder injury, stepped into the libero position. She is a great player who passes well and has good form. Her self-confidence would probably benefit from more practice, but at this stage I am very confident in her abilities.

Michelle and Ingrid ran well together through the middle, and both had good touches on the block.

Kate was great as opposite, with improving serve and well adjusted hits. She kept playing herself into every line-up, as did Amy and Ash. They always seem to play steady games with good intensity. Very pleased with the sets in a game where the passes were good but not always the best. Excellent.

This game proved to be a tough 5 set match. Serve reception needs to improve, as does our back court defense. Position 5 tip cover worked well and was always ready, but it is crucial that 4 and 6 take the T and back corner. Harder transition into defense positions is required from everybody.

Good game though girls, I’m still pleased with our progress. We’re still moving forward, not backwards! Heads up!!! 

Jon Miller - Coach

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Men’s Honours

Melbourne Falcons (3) def Yarra Ranges (2)

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Women Honours

Yarra Ranges 3 – Eastside Hawks 2

After the previous week’s superb effort over Heidelberg, this game was always going to be bit of unknown quantity.

Yarra had Georgia Sverns away on National duties, Sian Percy away with AVL duties and Karina Doyne away on holidays.  Add those players to Sandra Boi and Nikki Bishop still on our long-term injury list and Mia Percy returning from injury, our playing list was really taking a massive hit.

With that list of players unavailable, we had to dig deep in to the clubs talent pool.

We asked Belinda Mullen (Yarra Ranges past player/legend), Susannah Ball and Amy Grimwade to assist in covering the missing players.

In keeping with the Yarra spirit, these ladies really stepped up and performed superbly.

The first four sets played were closely fought out with neither side giving up or gaining any sort of lead.

The fifth set was a demonstration by our team how efficient and ruthless you have to be in that if you have the opportunity to get on top of your opposition, you must take it and hold on to it.  We won the fifth set 15:6.

This game was another step up from the previous week.  We are gaining a momentum that should cause concern to our opposition.  The next weekend brings a week off from State League due to the Ballarat Tournament.  This will give Yarra another opportunity to re-group, train hard and also give some of the injured players some valuable recovery time.

I am usually reluctant to single out players after such a comprehensive team win, but I will in this case.  I mentioned earlier Belinda, Susannah and Amy stepping up to assist, and they were superb, especially Belinda, who has been out of State League for over five years.  But I believe the player who deserves special mention is Tanya Wallace. Tanya played probably the best game of her career so far and was the main catalyst for our win.

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WD1 Match Report

Round 4 – Yarra Ranges (3) def Cossacks (2)

Excellent!!!

The girls played brilliantly. They did everything I asked and that included having fun! The starting six in each set and those that came off the bench all had successful games.

The best thing about the game was that when the enthusiasm was down, the girls were able to turn it around, some more than others, but everyone was involved.

Josie was brilliant as pass hitter and will definitely be amongst the votes!

Ash’s set choices were great again and it is always a plus to have a setter who can read the play and work well under pressure.

Michelle, Ingrid and definitely Kat did their jobs through the middle, but they all need to work hard on transition to draw a few more of opponents’ blocks.

Amy was great as always and follows direction beautifully. Her two tips to deep position one were excellent and a real stand-out for me.

I’m sure Suzi won’t be surprised to hear me say she’s played better games, but when she was able to focus she played well. All the girls should realize that their attitude on court can have an impact on the rest of the team, and therefore trying to stay positive works better for everyone. Even if you stuff up or get frustrated, you need to learn to turn it around straight away and get on with what you’re there for.

Emily who is coming back from injury did well and was very positive. Serving and back court was a plus and I could definitely see that she enjoyed being back in the game.

Danica once again had great control in back court, and her use of position five was successful. Tip cover is the key and I think when we get used to it, we won’t have any holes.

Very, very pleased with all of the girls. Great game, but I am always open to taking suggestions on board. I’ve been blessed with a great bunch of girls, being a new coach is always tough but I’m loving this!!!

GO YARRA!!!

Jon Miller - Coach

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Men’s Honours

Round 3 - Heidelberg (3) def Yarra Ranges (2)

In the first set the team got off to a slow start, not from bad play, just got caught napping. They quickly got firing though and some good serving and strong hitting through the middle kept us about 4 points behind through most of the set. Some strong transition kills from Luke Hill and Michael Stevens looked promising, but the end of the set came too soon.

The second set started out on even pegging. Yarra’s passing was accurate and Jason was finding many one of ones. However our block was struggling to contain the complex attack from Heidelberg and a run of service errors cost us the set.

With an obvious change in mindset, the boys jumped to an early lead in the third. Strong outside hitting from Michael and Luke, plus some great transition balls from Corey were getting everyone pumped, but the turnaround was accurate serving and blocking pressure. Yarra closed out the set quickly, trying to bring momentum into the fourth.

The fourth was definitely close, with Heidelberg again running some impressive attack, but our outside hitters matched it, hitting hard and high of hands. Nick Feeney’s added a few quick kills from behind and a number of telling defensive plays gave us a close lead. Heidelberg continued to push their attack through strong middle and fast outside balls, but Yarra’s strong passing made them try too hard on the serve and they couldn’t find the points they needed.

Yarra started slowly in the fifth, with a run of 2 passes and a few bad skill executions, but strong defence and outside hitting again got them back in the set. The two teams traded point for point, reaching 13-13. A service error and then a Heidelberg kill block came quicker than Yarra hoped, but it was pleasing to see attacking volleyball all the way till the end.

The third straight loss for the year, but hopefully this strong performance was the beginning of a turn-around in form. Definitely the strongest match so far this season. This week Yarra managed to transfer good training form, into good match form. Now the challenge is to train even better.

By Adam Weir.

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Women’s Honours

Round 3 Vs Heidelberg   Won 3:1

What a difference a week (and an attitude change) can make.

We came in to this game expecting it to be a hard fought battle and this proved to be the case.

Heidelberg had recruited one of the leading National Junior players in Karly Hynes, and pairing her with Shannon Campbell (their current Outside Hitter) meant they were expected to be a very powerful hitting side.

However, our own National Junior player, Georgia Sverns, proved to be equal to the task of stopping their hitters at the net and then providing exceptional sets to our own hitters to win the rallies.  All players who contested this match can rightfully claim that each one of them was “best on ground”.

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WD1 Match Report

Round 3 – Yarra Ranges (3) def Heidelberg (1)

As with our first game, once again we started short of our regular players due to school sports commitments, however we were helped out with Bindi Mullans and Nicky Bishop who did an excellent job and their presence was much appreciated by me and the girls.

Bindi was consistent through the middle and her experience helped organize front court as did Nicky in backcourt. Both girls have represented Australia and know what needs to be done to win games, this was a great opportunity for our girls to follow their example.

Amy and Josie, who turned up late due to school, had a fresh impact on the game, especially Josie with excellent line spikes from four into deep position one. Exactly what I asked to be done!

Suzi was Captain for the game, and was a go-to player, once again proving to be very reliable.

Also playing consistently and reliably was Ash with excellent set choices and serves.

Kate and Mandy were great in opposite with both girls scrambling well when needed.

Kat and Michelle once again did a great job through the middle, and Kat was a welcome surprise with some excellent serving.

It’s very easy to coach a team when all the players can do a job in any position. I’m rapt with how we are going so early in the season, I hope you all realize that you are all good players and it’s fantastic to see good players playing as a great team.

Other teams are taking notice and will prepare well to play us! Let’s make sure we’re ready for them!!!

Jon Miller - Coach

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