Volleyball: Otumoetai girls' rule supreme

Action from the clash between Tauranga Girls' College and Otumoetai College at the BOP Junior Secondary School Championships held at ASB Arena over the weekend. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Otumoetai College girls volleyball juggernaut continues to keep rolling with their junior side brushing off their Bay of Plenty counterparts to claim another regional title.

The Otumoetai junior girls beat their Tauranga Girls' College rivals twice in straight sets over the weekend - once in Saturday's pool play and then again in yesterday's final - to make a strong statement before the players head to the senior ranks.

Western Heights High School's junior girls got the better of Trident High School in the playoff for third and fourth, with Otumoetai's second side sneaking in for a top five Bay of Plenty ranking at the North Islands.

Western Heights won the boys final in two sets against Tauranga Boys' College, with Otumoetai's 10A, Trident and Mount Maunganui rounding out the top five.

The reasons behind Otumoetai's dominance at all levels of girls volleyball are no secret, but they also prove very difficult to replicate.

Junior girls' coach Stu Henderson, who has played a leading role in securing multiple senior girls titles, said the school was essentially a learning institution that doubled as a factory for volleyball players.

The school, with a roll of almost 2000 pupils, has more than 300 volleyball players - with more than 200 of them female.

Henderson said the leading Year 10 players were already playing in senior selections, meaning succession planning was in place and on track.

The school supplied six of 32 teams in the girls draw and three of the 18 boys teams and, judging by the ratio of pupils at the school that play, are surely the keenest volleyball school in the country.