The emotion of losing one of their starting six pre-tournament was overtaken by tears of joy yesterday at Baypark's TECT Arena as Mt Maunganui College shrugged off a horror start to grab one of the school's best team wins ever.
The top seeds yesterday won the North Island junior girls' indoor volleyball title in a three-set thriller against cross-town rivals Tauranga Girls' College, clawing back from a possum-in-the-headlights 25-8 first set capitulation to really turn it on, winning the second set 25-23 and the decider 15-5.
Mount lost key player Chelsea Johns before the tournament after she was deemed ineligible to play because she didn't meet the age criteria. Mount coach Adam El-Agez sought dispensation but Volleyball New Zealand denied his request.
Johns was an energetic assistant coach for El-Agez, more cheerleader than shrewd tactician, and yesterday's win was dedicated to her, he said.
"Poor Chelsea deserved to play this game and would have but we've tried not to let [the controversy] be a distraction this week. We felt hard done by and Chelsea has been crying every time the girls took the court, with probably more tears to come, but we were playing it today for her."
Mount also had to cope with the late loss of Jessica Taft, who injured her shoulder in the warmup, and blew the first set under a tidal wave of errors. But El-Agez said it took little reminding what was needed to fight their way back.
"We didn't come here to make the final, we came to win it.
"We'd stated it publicly coming into the tournament and made no bones about what our goal was.
"Sure, it created a bit of pressure, but I talked to the girls about risking everything, wanting that reward and nothing else, and all that hard yakka has paid off."
Captain and outside hitter Franqui Leach answered El-Agez' call with a powerful display, crashing to the floor in a flood of tears when her final serve swerved through Tauranga Girls' defences. El-Aged said it was Leach who had flicked the switch for the team.
"The girls messed up in that first set and our captain was the one who said, 'nah, I'm not losing this', I could see it in her eyes. When Franqui's on the whole team is on and she infected the rest of the girls and they came out and played like winners."
In contrast, Tauranga Boys' College will be wondering where it all went wrong as the top seeds and title favourites crashed to a 16-25 25-19 16-14 loss to little-rated Tikipunga High School from Whangarei.
Boys' College looked like giving Tikipunga a bath with a rampant opening to the first set but showed that outstanding teams don't always make outstanding decisions as they crumbled under a flood of errors and poor passing, blowing a 12-8 lead in the deciding set to dip out on winning their first division one title since 2006.
Tikipunga are a small co-ed school and gave Northland their first-ever division one crown, although captain Zabdiel Edmonds admitted it was looking unlikely for a while.
"They were smashing us and we couldn't get a serve back and were shanking everything.
"We knew we could beat them so we went for everything and served on their weak passers because their captain was picking us up every time.
"We're a little-as school, a bomb school who no one knows, but to win is as cool as."
Results:
Girls' division one:
Quarter-finals: Mt Maunganui College A b Sir Edmund Hillary College 24-26 25-8 15-5, Bethlehem College A b Trident High 25-19 25-11, Mangere College b Upwey High 22-25 25-11 15-10, Tauranga Girls' College b Otumoetai College 25-13 25-20.
Semifinals: Mt Maunganui College b Bethlehem College 25-23 25-15, Tauranga Girls' College b Mangere College 19-25, 25-19 15-7.
Final: Mt Maunganui College b Tauranga Girls College 8-25 25-23 15-5.
Boys' division one: Tauranga Boys' College b Trident High School 25-22 24-26 15-11, Western Heights High v Rangitoto College 14-25 25-15 16-14, Tikipunga High b Whakatane High 18-25 25-23 15-11, Orewa College b One Tree Hill College 25-21 11-25 15-9.
Semifinals: Tauranga Boys College b Western Neights 25-19 25-20, Tikipunga High b Orewa College 25-19, 14-25 15-11.
Final: Tikipunga High b Tauranga Boys' College 16-25 25-19 16-14.
Girls' division two: Kawerau College b Hastings Christian School 17-25 25-21 15-8. Boys' division two: Trident High School b Gisborne Boys' High 24-26, 25-11 15-13.