Volleyball: Strong start for Bay teams

Western Bay of Plenty girls under-19 teammates Emma Bain and Ella Duggan look to wreak havoc at the net against the New Zealand Institute of Sport's under-19s. Photo / Andrew Warner

Bay of Plenty's volleyball teams ran the table on the opening morning of the interprovincial age group championships at ASB Arena yesterday.

The boys under-19 and under-17 teams and the girls under-19 sides all opened their accounts with routine straight set victories in a tournament featuring age grade teams from North Harbour, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wellington and Hawke's Bay.

Sport Bay of Plenty Coach Force officer Edwin O'Dea said the rich volleyball history in the area made his job of finding and instructing coaches all the more easier.

"The Bay of Plenty is known as the home of volleyball in New Zealand," O'Dea said.

"Nationally, we are the boys and girls secondary school champions and the women's champions.

"A lot of it is school based - there's a lot of pride in our schools. Tauranga Boys' and Girls', Otumoetai and Mount Colleges have really strong coaches they develop through their schools."

He tipped a number of home teams to appear in finals this afternoon, but sounded a word of caution about another province's improvements.

"North Harbour is definitely the big challenge. They've had a programme in place for about six years now that is starting to produce some really good athletes and teams as well.

"They've got plenty of kids up there and some really key coaches developing their coaches."

New Zealand under-19 representative Nate Moore was slightly rusty due to having mostly turned his attention to the sport's outdoor equivalent as summer nears, but still delivered some trademark power at the net in the under-17 side's first up win.

Coming right at the end of the club season, the Mount Maunganui College student said the tournament provides a great chance for players to combine forces with foes from competing secondary schools.

"Our team is looking pretty stacked," Moore said.

"Half of the Western Heights junior team is here and we've got plenty of good players."

The same could be said of the local sides, which looked filled to bursting point with national reps seemingly capable of jumping out of the gym. Finals were set to start from 4pm today.