History of (Footscray) Renegades - 1998
Presentation Night
This year's Presentation Night with the Melbourne University Volleyball Club was held on Friday, September 25, 1998, at the Melbourne University Student Union Building.
Congratulations to Kerry 'Space' Oataway and Dave Warwick for being crowned Queen and King of Renegades - great service to the Club both on and off the court. Also, Most Valuable Player awards went to Chris Grigg (Men's Honours), Dani Hammond (Women's Honours), Tome Andrews (Men's Division 1), Kerry Oataway (Women's Division 1), Jesse Adams (Men's Division 2) and Martene Bond (Women's Division 2). Finally, Most Improved Player awards went to Dean Penny (Men's Honours), Sue Mullen (Women's Honours), Mike Werner (Men's Division 1), Debbie Wood (Women's Division 1), Damian James (Men's Division 2) and Liza Neilson (Women's Division 2).
The Club's AGM was held in conjunction with the Presentation Night and Les Barcikowski was again voted in as president, Gus Cirillo as treasurer and David Martin as secretary. The rest of the committee is made up of the team managers from each side.
Victorian Volleyball League
The state league season began on Sunday, April 26, with Renegades having plenty of new faces in all teams bringing renewed energy and enthusiasm. The first round had its usual mix of results for Renegades teams - three victorious teams (Div 1 and Div 2 men, Div 2 women) and three looking to the following week for success (Honours men, Honours and Div 1 women).
In the months that followed, the Renegades sides continued on for a relatively successful season for the club. Three teams
(Honours Women, Division 1 Women and Division 1 Men) made the semi-finals, but unfortunately could push on through to the grand finals.
Round 7 saw the Honours men come away with a great win against USC Lion, and one of the game's talking points was Chris Grigg's 2-1 spike...
The grand finals were held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on Saturday, September 5, in front of a large crowd. The Honours women's final between Fairhills and Monbulk went down to the wire. Fairhills began the match strongly with consistent serving reception giving their spikers the edge. Monbulk however regrouped to take the second and third sets and looked set to take out the match. But Fairhills came out firing in the fourth set and with Monbulk making large numbers of unforced errors, they took the set by a pants-dropping, 15-0. The fifth set was much closer and Fairhills had their chances, but Monbulk eventually won, 16-14.
In the Honours men's final, Heidelberg were looking for their ninth(?) straight championship as they came up against the Preston Falcons. Despite showing great promise last season, Preston were convincingly beaten by Heidelberg in last year's grand final. This year though they were determined that things would be different. Powerful hitting by former national squad member Terry and uncharacteristic errors by the Heidelberg side saw Preston take the first two sets. Even though a number of their players weren't up to their usual standard, Heidelberg's professionalism came to the fore in the third set as they fought to stay in the match. Taking an early lead, this time it was Preston who had to dig deep, and they did. Great defense and strong hitting, both through the middle and outside, saw Preston take the third set and the match, 3:0.
Tournaments
Bendigo State Cup
The Bendigo Cup was held on October 31-November 1, 1998, and four Renegades sides drove up for the last indoor tournament for the year.
All four teams had a shakey start on Saturday morning with the Honours men and Division 1 women drawing there first match, while the Division 1 men and Honours women went down in the time-limited games. Things improved as teh day went on though, with the Honours men in particular finishing the day with just one (narrow) loss.
The Division 1 men (mostly made up of the Division 2 VVL side plus Gus and Dave Martin) finished Saturday with two narrow losses (by one point in both cases) putting them out of the finals in third place. The Division 1 and Honours women were in similar positions, each losing a couple of matches. The Honours men though were looking good for the final and needed a good win on Sunday morning. This they did, winning in straight sets, and after Preston defeated LaTrobe, they were in the grand final against traditional rivals, Heidelberg.
The final was a hard-fought affair, but in the end, some strong serving by Heidelberg's Dave Abud proved the difference. Heidelberg eventually winning the match in three close sets.
LaTrobe Valley Tournament
The Honours men had an excellent weekend of volleyball at Morwell in October, winning the grand final comfortably. The women also had a successful weekend, finishing second in a close 5 set battle in the final.
Wangaratta State Cup
Two Melbourne University men's teams plus a Melbourne University Renegades women's team drove up to Wangaratta on Friday, March 27, for a great weekend of volleyball.
The Melbourne University Renegades played in the expanded women's Division 1 (there were no women's Honours Division or Divsion 2). They were a new team with several players new to the club. The team played some great volleyball, but inconsistency let them down as they finished fourth. With plenty of individual talent and still one State Cup left to go before the start of the Victorian Volleyball League however, the team has a lot to look forward to this season.
The Old Melbourne University men's side was composed of all the old Wangaratta tournament regulars - Dave, Dave, Gav, Dean, Tim, Jason and Tung - and went up as defending champions of Division 1. The competition was a little stronger this year with LaTrobe and Geelong providing stiff opposition, and with several players carrying injuries, it was always going to be a tough weekend to come away on top. The team eventually finished third after losing to LaTrobe in two close sets and a draw against Geelong during the time limited round matches.
The New Melbourne University Renegades men's team was entered in Division 2 and consisted of five players that were new to state league level competition. Jake and Mick joined the side Saturday morning to give the team some added height and experience. Their first match was against the strongest team in the pool, Eastside Hawks, but they fought well and only narrowly went down in two sets. That was the team's only loss for the tournament though, as they regrouped to convincingly win their remaining round matches. The final saw them come up against Eastside Hawks once more, but this time with two days experience behind them, they beat the Hawks in four sets and took out the Division 2 trophy.