Jenny Kirk Trans-Tasman Trophy

Game 1 Results September 27, 2009

The Australian Junior Women defeated New Zealand in  Game 1 of the 2009 Jenny Kirk Trans Tasman Series, played at Croydon tonight.  The team won comfortably in 4 sets (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-14).

Match Report
The Australian Junior ‘92 Women’s Volleyball Team defeated New Zealand U/19 in an exciting start to the 2009 Jenny Kirk series, in front of a large vocal crowd at Croydon Leisure Centre.

Nerves from both teams early in the match saw the score see-saw throughout the first set with Australia gaining the advantage and winning the set from 21:23 down, thanks to a run of 4 straight points.

New Zealand dominated set 2 as Australia began to crumble in serve reception partly due to the increased NZ service pressure. 10:16 quickly became 16:25. New Zealand hit very effectively in this set from the outside and utilised this strength of their game through the set.

Australia was on fire early in the third and raced out to a 4:0 lead with some sweet power transition plays. Offensively, Australia started to connect through the middle quick attacks, which showed the team was starting to create more rhythm in sideout. NZ to their credit clawed back to 10:9 then the Aussie’s took control again to push the score out to 20:13. Struggling to finish off the set Australia allowed NZ to fight back to 23:22 before completing the set with an ace.

As the home crowd started to really ‘get into the game’ cheering their Aussie team home to victory, Australia took charge of set 4 from 12:12 to win in emphatic fashion 25:14.

Overall this was an encouraging start to the series for Australia. The team is content with the win, however look forward to improving greatly throughout this series. Australia showed that their best Volleyball is certainly world class however the inconsistency between their best and ordinary is too great at the moment. Losing big clusters of points in a row in side out is an area that will be addressed in Match 2 on Monday night.

A major positive for Australia tonight was that the team played all 14 girls on the court throughout various stages of the match. Unfortunately Ashley Gray injured her ankle at training earlier in the day and do not suit up. The team hopes to see Ash make her Australian debut latter in the series provided she is fit to play.

In The News – International volleyball for the Valley September 10, 2009

The elite young volleyball players of both Australia and New Zealand are preparing to take the court against each other in coming weeks including a test match to be played in the Latrobe Valley. The Jenny Kirk Tasman Trophy will be played for in a 5 test series with a match being played at the Moe-Newborough Leisure Centre on Tuesday September 29th.

One of the players involved is Lakes Entrance’s Eliza Smith. She and CEO of Volleyball Australia Joan Perry spoke to me about the series and the status of Volleyball in Australia

http://blogs.abc.net.au/victoria/2009/09/international-volleyball-for-the-valley.html?program=gippsland_breakfast

2009 Jenny Kirk Trans-Tasman Trophy September 10, 2009

2009 Jenny Kirk Trans-Tasman Trophy
27 September – 2 October 2009
Melbourne, Australia

LIVE SCORES FROM MATCH #5 October 10, 2008

Go to the results page and follow the rallies as Australia and New Zealand clash in the fifth and final match of the series.

Photos October 9, 2008

Last few days in a nutshell! October 9, 2008

Tuesday night brought around our second test in Timaru. After our tight loss the previous night, we knew we would be very competitive again this evening. The match began and we were feeling the nerves once again. The first set wasn’t as close as we would have liked, but the second and third sets were extremely close and really could have gone either way. Even though we didn’t get the outcome we were after, we all knew we were improving more and more with each match and gaining more confidence. Dinner in the dining hall involved a “joke-off” between the Aussie and Kiwi girls as well as some brain teasers from the coaches.

After an early breakfast and departure on Wednesday we were on our way to Otago – Dunedin. Accompanied by the New Zealand girls, we all settled down quietly and enjoyed watching Stick It and All You’ve Got. However, we did have a minor touch of car sickness as one of the New Zealand girls didn’t seem to handle the drive too well. After arriving at our accommodation we then waited for half an hour before being checked into our rooms. (Out hotel is rather scary – imagine a massive haunted house) We then went to our training at Otaga High School where we continued to improve and develop on many of the skills we had failed to capitalise on the previous night. Upon arrival at our accommodation we were greeted with a wide variety of food and drink. After this we were given free time, where we managed to find a local Starbucks and a seedy internet café which was greatly appreciated and provided low cost fees for a bunch of internet deprived girls. (Steph, Tee, Megan, Brodie & Jen) After some much needed R&R we then left for our 3^rd and most important test match in hope of keeping the series alive. Unfortunately we were unable to win the match however we won our first ever set of international volleyball! That night at dinner provided some funny and entertaining games from the New Zealand girls that a lot of the team couldn’t seem to fully understand. These were called Puckana, Musical Instruments, The Vegetable Game and A What. After about half an hour of musical games and laughter we finally headed upstairs to bed. Before hitting the sac, we somehow convinced the coaches to let us purchase some “light’ refreshments from the local supermarket.

Aus Youth Girls

LIVE SCORES FROM MATCH #4 October 9, 2008

Go to the results page and follow the live commentary of the fourth match of the series. Can the Aussies come through with a win tonight?

LIVE SCORES FOR MATCH #3 October 8, 2008

Go to the results page for the live scores of the third match of the series.

LIVE SCORES MATCH #2 October 7, 2008

Go to the results page for the point by point commentary of the second match