Craighead Volleyball Test Themselves on South Island Stage
Carrying with them the success of the Aoraki Champs, Craighead sent both the Senior A and B teams to the South Island Satellite Tournament in Christchurch last week. This was the last major volleyball tournament of the season with the Nationals being cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
At the mercy of previous years’ performances of Aoraki teams, Craighead Senior A was placed in a Division 2 ‘pool of death’, with eventual finalists St Andrew College (who only won against CDS 15-4 in the 5th set) and winners Avonside Girls High School. With the top two in the pool advancing to the semi finals, it took a countback to separate Avonside, Wakatipu HS and CDS to see who would join the unbeaten StAC team. In dropping a set more than the others we were relegated to playing off for 5th - 8th in cross pool play. In a demolition of Cashmere, characterised by the team winning the first 17 points in a row whilst Issy Sharp served, it was clear that there was disparity between the pools, with the tougher matches giving the Craighead girls a ruthless edge to their performance. In a repeat of pool play, CDS endured yet another 5 set thriller with Wakatipu to finish 5th in Division 2.
The highlight of the tournament however was the progress of the Craighead B team who improved their confidence and willingness to play attacking, structured volleyball. After a convincing straight sets win over their Rangi Ruru counterparts, the team were tested by Rolleston College A before meeting eventual Division 3 winners Burnside HS C for their only loss of the tournament. Despite dropping sets against StAC C and the B teams from Rolleston College and Wakatipu, the fortitude that had developed amongst the team saw them victorious in each game, earning them the silver medal for second in Division 3.
A huge thanks to Gaela Kilgour who gave up her time to make the teams’ participation happen as she accompanied the team as manager/ physio/ baker.
Craighead B: Laura Apperley, Katie Baxter, Rafaela Cabrera, Madeline Dominikovich, Anna O’Sullivan, Sophie Parsons, Dinnay Phillips, Madi Thomas, Natalie Whiteley
Craighead A: Amalia Cabrera , Zara Coleman, Olivia Lincoln, Koko Kubota, Niamh Motley, Camryn Porter, Isobel Sharp, Emily Shrimpton