Warrnambool Seaside Tournament,
11-13 March 2000.
HUGE weekend for the Phantoms Womens team from
the Bellarine Association at the Warrnambool Tournament
this year. The team we entered in Division 2 consisted
of Sue Clough, Julie Dew, Lynelle Dungen, Lee Holden,
Lisa Krahe, Cheryl Moore, Leena Renkauskas & Jo
Robertson - Anne Kuklych was scheduled to play but
was ruled out by the Team Doctor as she failed a
fitness test the morning of the tournament - bad luck Anne..
..however she was with us every step of the way and
her words of wisdom will be ringing in our ears for many
games to come! The team had various levels of experience
with Lee having her first tournament and Sue in her second.
On Saturday we had the following results - defeated
Wangaratta 3-0, defeated Warrnambool 3-0 and
defeated North West Pumas 2-1. An excellent day
with everyone getting heaps of court time and playing
some solid volleyball. Particularly our last game as Pumas
seemed to be beating everyone by getting the ball back
constantly - we kept our cool and worked hard to gain
a win! Our thoughts turned to our aims for on Sunday.
In order to have a chance at a finals berth, we had
to finish top of the ladder in our pool - the only way
was to win everything we felt! Our game against Bendigo
Academy was tough as the little blighters wouldn't
lie down - we ended up losing 1-2. Last game was
Blades, we won 3-0. We couldn't have asked any more
from our team - and as it turned out, the lovely
North West Pumas upset enough games that we finished
top of our pool! Yay!
The weather was hot again on Monday, so the decision
was made to drop Lisa out of the setting and go the
whole enchilada - we decided on Leena and Julie. We
played Judea - a very experienced team from Bendigo.
We won the first two sets 25-23 & 25-23. The
close scores shows that there wasn't much between
the two teams. Judea fought back in the third & fourth
sets 16-25 & 22-25. The momentum was swinging back
and forth with the change of ends showing Judea up 7-8.
They got to 8-12......then winning the serve back,
Leena put some good serves in which put us back
in the set and assisting the front court to put away
some great attacks. The score was 13-13 when she
lost the serve, but a quick reply and Cheryl found
herself with the unenviable task of serving for the
match. With her putting a solid serve in, the save of the
day went to Leena who launched herself at the last minute
to pick up a sensational ball - straight back to Judea who
dug the ball and just let it drop - they were gob-smacked!
WE WON!!! And I would like to say that it was an
absolute pleasure to play. It wouldn't have mattered if we
lost, all the girls played extremely well as a team, and
their committment to work, laugh and play together as a
team was the best I have ever encountered. I believe each
girl showed something of themselves that lifted the team
to play so well.
Go Phantoms!
... the winning moment ...
Ballarat Skins Tournament,
8-9 April 2000.
The Geelong
Phantom's first trip to the Ballarat Skins
was a tough ask, being the only
non State League team
in the top division and having only six
players on the first
day. A tight competitive first game against the VIS
saw us
going down 0-3, followed by a good win (2-1) over
Renegades. The lack of a bench started to show against
Mornington with a 0-3
defeat. But the boys were fired
up for the big match against the Geelong
State League
team - a moral victory was had when we took the third set
to go down 1-2. The Sunday morning game was against
the undefeated
Southern Cross - we went down 0-3.
Despite the high level of the
competition, and the lack
of a bench, we didn't lose a skin. A very enjoyable
weekend was had by all.
Victorian Country Volleyball Championships,
Moe Indoor Recreation Centre, 10-12 June 2000.
The
Latrobe Valley Volleyball Association hosted the
2000 Victorian Country
Volleyball Champioships in Moe.
For the first time Bellarine was
represented in the mens
competition, with the women competing in their
third
Championship. With
the late withdrawal of the Warrnambool
team, the Div 1 mens draw was
reduced to four teams,
this meant we played each team twice. With two
losses to
Geelong and a loss to Latrobe Valley, the Bellarine team
just
managed to make the final. The State League
strength Geelong team managed
to go through the
preliminary rounds undefeated. The final was a very
tense affair between two teams that knew each others
strengths and
weakneses very well. The turning point
in the game came when Jon Collyer
came up to serve
in the fourth set with the score at 15-20 - he
served
the next eight points and Bellarine held on to
win. Bellarine was
always in control of the fifth set,
but it wasn't until we were 13-8
up that the coach said
"I think we can win this !!" Well done to all
players
(Phantoms all of them), and many thanks to the womens
team for
staying back to support. Jon Collyer and
Aaron Krahe were selected in
the "Country 12".
The
Bellarine womens team had a much better draw than
the men, but were unable
to convert extra sleep into
extra points. In the end they finished
a creditable fourth
in Div 1. Well done ladies. The Div 1 final
was won by
Geelong over Bendigo (3-2), after Bendigo had gone
through
the preliminary games undefeated. Cheryl Moore
(Bellarine) and Maureen Hanlon (Geelong) were selected
in the "Country 12".
Winners are grinners !!
'The blue ones'
From the Geelong Advertiser,
15 June 2000.
Bellarine Volleyball Association,
Autumn Season Finals,
16 June 2000.
The
Phantoms successfully defended their A-grade title,
defeating Nemesis
3-1 in a closely fought game. An
enjoyable time was had by all, with
a celebratory drink
or two had at The Mex afterwards.
YMCA,
Autumn Season Finals, 21 June 2000.
After Finishing 1st and defeating the Phantom One
team the previous week, Phantoms Two were pitted
against Finally in the final. With a number of Phantom
players making up the Finally team, it made for a good
match with Phantoms Two going on to win 3-0. Well done
to Phantoms Two, also to Phantoms One who finished
3rd, and to all other Phantom players playing
in various teams.
2000
Victorian Open, Mornington Civic Reserve,
20-22
October 2000
A
combined team with players from Ballarat, Geelong
and Horsham was entered
into division 1 men for
Morningtons first Victorian Open tournament.
After
the preliminary rounds Phantoms were placed 3rd
going into
the finals on the Sunday. Having to play the
last game of the preliminary
rounds on the Sunday
morning and only recieving a 70 minute break
before
the finals started, the Phantoms were faced with a
daunting
task. 3 finals games in a row, with no break.
After winning the
semi and preliminary finals, fatigue
started to show in the grand final
and although the
Phantoms had thier chances with leads late in the
2nd
and 3rd sets, they eventually went down 0-3 to Eastside
Hawks. A
rewarding weekend was had by all players.
Aaron shows us just how exciting
scoring can be
The Phantom 'Punters Club'
10 bucks each way on horse 5, race
8
Gregs pre match sleep
Had to blind myself to get this
rare one of Jason
Chappy, the Herald Sun trivia know
it all
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