Girls' College blitz their way to title

To go through any tournament unbeaten and win the title is some achievement.
To do it without dropping a set, and being pushed only once in 10 games, is asserting supremacy at an entirely different level altogether.
Tauranga Girls' College have returned from the North Island junior championships having smashed every team in their path, downing Whakatane's Trident High School, the No1 seeds, 25-13 25-18 in the semifinal before a 25-21 25-17 win over Australia's Upway High School in the final. Tauranga Girls' coach Tamara Patete said it was an irresistible few days from her young side.
"It's fairly unusual to go through a tournament with this many games without dropping a set, and the fact no team took more than 20 points off us in any set until we met Upway in the final was great."
Tauranga Girls' players Andrea Tauai, who was also tournament MVP, and Toni Bullock were selected in the tournament team alongside Bethlehem College's Stephanie Pierce and Rose Keddell and Otumoetai College's Melissa Cairns and Aneta Buckley.
Western Bay players in the boys' tournament team were Laquan Gascoigne, Sonay Hirini and Aaron Carroll (Tauranga Boys College) and Otumoetai's Griffen Muller and Andrew Bray.
Patete said they had a dream ride through the week, without the sort of hassles that can derail a side.
"You'd probably call it a dream tournament _ things just fell into place.
"Often with teams that are quite inexperienced and new to a sport, little things can really rattle them but we had none of that."
Tauranga Boys' College A were beaten 25-22 25-17 by Napier Boys' High in the championship final, with Otumoetai A equal third and Mount Maunganui B equal fifth in division two. Otumoetai A were fifth equal and Bethlehem 10 seventh in the girls' first division, with Te Puke High A and Tauranga Girls' College B sharing third in division two and Bethlehem 9 equal seventh.
Patete said she and partner Alan Satiu, the team's assistant coach, decided earlier in the year to get the team playing together as much as possible.
"Andrea was in the junior A team already but Alan and I had worked with five of the team in the junior B side, so we've almost spent a year with them.
"We made the decision to keep all the juniors together this year by putting them into a senior C team, playing in the Bay of Plenty competition and doing quite well down at the senior nationals.
"It was done primarily with the North Island juniors in mind because I know from all the volleyball I've played that the key ingredients to any success are knowing each other and developing a tight bond. Putting in place a team culture doesn't happen overnight."
Patete and Satiu even managed to fit in having a baby _ son Cohen is now three months old _ with the team's preparation, with Year 13 student Lisa Claassen and school volleyball stalwart Barb Jones sharing the coaching duties.
Tauranga Girls' College junior A: Nicky McCool, Zoe Wieringa, Sage Hemara, Tara Hammond, Kerry Hampton, Toni Bullock (tournament team), Andrea Tauai (tournament team, tournament MVP), Kelly-Marie Turei, Sara Merritt.
Pool play: bt Havelock North 25-6 25-8, bt Bethlehem College 25-11 25-11, bt Fraser High School 25-10, 25-10, bt Mt Roskill Grammar 25-10, 25-7.
Crossover games: bt Takapuna Grammar 25-14 25-5, bt Bethlehem College 25-17 25-15, bt Hamilton Girls High School 25-16 25-9, bt Tikipunga High School 25-12 25-10. Championship semifinal: bt Trident High School 25-13 25-18.
Final: bt Upway High School (Australia) 25-21 25-17.