By David Berry

A clean sweep over Heidelberg has seen Volleyball Horsham Heat claim the Santamaria-Berry Shield for the first time.

The shield was inaugurated in honour of Tomas Santamaria who died in April. 

Mr Santamaria was the key driver behind the establishment of Heidelberg Volleyball Club as a powerhouse club in Australia and the Berry family, who have been the cornerstone of volleyball in Horsham and had a connection with Heidelberg in early days.

Heat men’s captain Noah Werry, who was awarded the MVP medal in the first game between the two clubs, was over the moon with the results from his team.

“Winning the first game in four sets was great for the boys’ confidence, but to back it up and win our second game was a win for the ages and capped off a great day for us all,” he said.

“The second game was tough, as Heidelberg bounced out of the blocks and won the first two sets, but a good old-fashioned rev-up from our veteran leader Dimitrios Vettos got us all going.

“We won the next two sets to level the match, as they began to tire, and then started the fifth really strongly, establishing a lead early.

“We led 14-12, but got tight and let Heidelberg back into the match. 

“But to the boys’ credit, they fought tooth and nail as the scores were level 15-15, 16-16, 17-17 and 18 all, but we managed to get the next two points and win the match.

“That feeling at the end was one of relief for getting there, but moreso a feeling of how good this is to win such an epic five-setter.”

The two wins moved Heat to three wins and nine losses for the season and will set the team up nicely for its next two matches on July 25 against Mornington and VR1 Volley at Monash University.

In the case of the women’s team, it was two strong wins against a young Heidelberg side, to make it eight straight wins.

Captain Laelah Robertson was pleased for the team to get the results as it has set up a mouth-watering clash against Monash Uni next week to decide top spot on the ladder.

“I feel as though we are starting to come together nicely as a team. The stats show we are getting a good spread of contributors across the court, with no reliance on any one player,” she said.

Robertson was especially pleased for her younger team members.

“Our middles in Bonnie Grieger and Lucinda Ferguson are warming to their roles and becoming offensive weapons,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we have lost our third middle Ingrid Ellis for a few weeks with a toe injury, while we have to manage our key middle Eadie Garth-Lindsay for a while, so Bonnie and Lucinda are going to have to step up.

“The good thing about Saturday was we got more miles into Molly Carter, and she showed in our second game just how good she is when she played really well.

“We can’t wait to get to Melbourne next week to show Monash just how far we have come. 

“They pushed us to five sets last time we played them, so we know we are going to have to play at our best.”

Cleo Baker and Sophie Quick were the winners of the MVP medal for the two games played on the weekend.

The two wins moved the Heat women to 11 wins and one loss after 12 games, maintaining their grip on second spot on the ladder, behind Monash who have had 11 wins and two losses, but with games in hand top spot beckons for the Heat girls.

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