Senior Boys Wellington Volleyball – Week 5
Posted by Rapids Volleyball on Friday, November 9, 2007
Top Of The Table Clash
Wellingotn College vs Rongotai College, venue: Rongotai.
Winner Wellington College 2-0 (25-18, 25-23)
Its been a choppy season in the “Senior Wellington Boys” grade, with only 5 teams in the start of Term 4, then a late withdrawal from Wellington High School, the competition seemed in limbo. Every week a team due to play Wellington High School will win automatically, while another team took a bye, leaving only one game to be played a week.
Coming down to the business end of Term 4 volleyball, Wellington College needed a win up against a passionate Rongotai College. Wellington playing away, over in the small over-heated gym of Rongotai, soon found themselves in a boiling cauldron with a good turnout of support from friends and family (and many students who seemed to be fans of the game).
Rongotai College seemed pumped up for this, a real grudge match, but for Wellington, it looked like if they weren’t able to come away with the points, they will miss out on playing next week for top place at the end of Term 4 Volleyball.
The 2nd set had the big rallies, but nothing was separating the two with both sides going point-for-point.
The game itself showed off the skills that both sides had, and the energy was high from Rongotai, with their squad near full, with 5 on the bench compared to 1 sub on Wellington College’s side. A notable factor in many college matches feature a lack of proper nets, good suspension of posts for the net & no aerials to mention a few, but this game in-particular suffered from most of the above.
Those factors aside, the game had action and excitement that the game of volleyball can deliver when plays are executed well, Rongotai managed to keep a 3 point buffer most of the first set until serving errors helped Wellington College back in. Rongotai, then timed-out being 13-16 down. The 1st set then went to Wellington College 25-18.
The 2nd set had the big rallies, but nothing was separating the two with both sides going point-for-point. Rongotai, soon felt the pressure by timing out, with Wellington College leading 21-19. The time-out helped Rongotai, allowing them back into the game, and they soon drew 23-23. Rongotai now with the service made a crucial error with possession, serving the ball into the net. They soon lost to Wellington 25-23. A very good game over all, with alot of players doing their best to read well in defence & doing their best to correct their technique. Wellington College moves to the top of the table, while they should play Rongotai College next week again for the Finals. The other match next week will be Newlands vs Scots College, they play for 3rd & 4th place.
