Tauranga women's volleyball coach Stewart Henderson has resigned himself to a disrupted build-up to the national women's championship in Nelson next month after another disjointed weekend of action in the Northern League.
Henderson's understrength Tauranga A team lost 3-0 to Auckland side Sparta 25-22 25-23 25-22 at the Otumoetai ActionCentre and then went down in four to Hamilton A, a side they hadn't lost to all season, 25-21 25-18 11-25 25-17.
With internationals Lisa Claassen (injured) and Leigh Gallagher (honeymoon) missing, Henderson's team were fresh-faced and eager but unable to keep pace with the hitting of either rival.
Tauranga B got one back, however, with A 25-22 25-14 25-21 defeat of Hamilton B.
Henderson was also missing Eastern Bay-based player Kim Wiersma, while New Zealander setter Alyse Barclay sat on the sideline watching before leaving for a junior college scholarship in the United States yesterday.
Henderson hasn't had a full complement of players to pick from yet in the Northern League and won't for the next few weeks either as Holly Boyle, Amy Hunter and Abbie Meredith spend time in the US with their Otumoetai College team.
Andrea Tauai and Melissa Cairns also played their last game for Tauranga, for the foreseeable future at least, as both depart this weekend on scholarships to the US. "We were drastically down on personnel and when it's the likes of your two New Zealand reps and Kim, all three are very consistent players for us and we just couldn't get the points," Henderson said.
Tauranga are under no pressure to qualify for the nationals - they're already there courtesy of last year's finals appearance.
