Volleyball Horsham’s women’s division one team will be up against some tough opposition in Heidelberg, Volley Friends United, Phantoms, Latrobe Uni and McKinnon Volley.
They will be missing Tamikah Dockrill, who will captain the Phantoms team in division one, Paige Hemley, who will play in the Phantoms division two team, and Molly Carter and Emily Hannan, who are both unavailable.
The women’s division three team will be out to go one better than their Horsham tournament runners-up result when they renew acquaintances with Volley Friends United, Renegades and two young Phantoms teams.
Captain Lydia Schneider has a strong team for the tournament, with Kymberley Murray and Kayla Kelm both in good form to start the season.
Other members playing for Phantoms include Mercedes Arnott and Ella Van Duren who are both playing in women’s division three.
On the men’s team, Jack Hannan, Matthew Berry, Cam Robinson and Nick Adamson will play in the division one black team, with Tyler Puls and Brady King in the purple team.
Tyler Snowden and Noah Werry will play in division two, while Oscar Jackman, Haidyn Young and Jack Snowden will play division three.
While Volleyball Horsham teams will use the event as preparation for the Country Championships, Phantoms coaches will get their final chance to see players before settling on personnel for the state league season, which starts on April 6.
Premier two men’s coach Matthew Berry said with four teams playing across three divisions representing 40-plus players, all participants would get the opportunity to stake their claim before round one.
“The numbers, especially in the men, have been great, with the standard much higher than last year, meaning that as a coaching group we have some tough decisions to make,” he said.
“We know with young players they can improve at a rapid rate, and that is what playing state league is all about, we want them to improve and in turn bring back great skills to their associations.
“Tournaments such as Ballarat and Warrnambool give those players plenty of court time and experience playing against different opposition, which doesn’t happen very often.
“What we are doing is basically squeezing 12 weeks of training and playing together into a three-week period so we can get the players ready for round one.”
Games start at 8am both days with finals on Sunday afternoon from 1.30pm.
Ride for Alzheimers
On Monday night, Volleyball Horsham will support Hall of Fame Legend David Abud when he completes his ride for Alzheimers.
Abud will ride from Ballarat to Ararat on Saturday, Ararat to Dunkeld on Sunday and then Dunkeld to Horsham on Monday as he raises money and awareness for Alzheimers disease.
Abud has raised more than $35,000 during the past four years as he shines a light on the disease that has affected his father Dr Rodney Abud, who used to practice in Horsham.
Volleyball Horsham Monday night participants, families and friends will be asked to make a donation when they attend to play. Volleyball Horsham will match the funds raised and present to Abud on the night.
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