25th Year at Warrnambool
The Warrnambool volleyball tournament has been running since 1975 and Renegades has competed in every one.
[img_assist|fid=86|thumb=0|alt=Spike hitting at Warrnambool 1999|class=image-legacy]On Saturday evening, just before the last games of the day (while theHonours guys were playing actually), the organisers of this year'sWarrnambool tournament presented the club with a commemorative plaqueas a thank you for our support of the first indoor tournament of eachyear. Gus accepted the award on behalf of the club and he himself hadplayed in the last 22 Warrnambool long weekends.
This year's Warrnambool tournament was the first official volleyball in Victoria using the new rally point scoring system and the libero. And for tournaments, rally point scoring worked well to reduce match times. However, particularly for players in our club, I can see people becoming annoyed during the VVL season when they spend more time travelling to the Springers Stadium than they do playing on court.
The Warrnambool State Cup was once again a great long weekend of fun and volleyball with five men's and three women's divisions spread over six venues. Several South Australian teams again made the trip across to join the Victorian clubs for the first indoor tournament of the year - but to Gav's disappointment, no Volleyball Team Australia playing in Honours.
Five Renegades sides drove over on the Friday night and arrived in Warrnambool to the announcement of Gav and Debbie's engagement... congratulations to both of them. All five teams had an 8am start on Saturday morning but that didn't stop celebrations going well into the night. If only because some of us didn't actually arrive until well into the night!
The upheaval in the women's teams this year meant that Warrnambool was realistically not going to be any more than a chance for the many players stepping up a division to gain much needed experience. Both the Honours and Division 1 sides finished down the ladder after two long day's play, but improved their play dramatically over the weekend. And for the Honours women, their match against a Preston team full of ex-Renegades was an intense affair.
[img_assist|fid=89|thumb=0|alt=Renegades Honours women receiving serve|class=image-legacy]
For the first time in several years, the Honours men's team has stayed largely unchanged from the previous season. The loss of Ash Gibbs to the newly promoted LaTrobe though was compensated for by the inclusion of Shane Wilmann. Coming away from the weekend with 3 wins and 4 losses with little indoor practice leading up, the side looks set to perform strongly this year.
The Division 1 men had a similar few days - 3 wins and 4 losses. The ankle injury to Tom Andrews for the last two games proved a real blow as any chance of making the finals slipped away. With Gus travelling overseas for the first half of the regular season, several players will have to step up if the team wants to make the finals in September.
And the Division 2 men brought in several new players, who, like the women, gained valuable experience (indeed, I think the side was glad that they didn't make the grand final which was held at 8am Monday morning - aah, the early morning joys of tournaments).