State League Men Lost to Southern Cross 2-3

Stay in 3rd spot

Boys were missing a few players this weekend and had some help from reserve players Craig Sibbons and Mitch Collins. It was a close game with the boys showing a lot of character coming back from down in multiple sets. Unfortunately southern cross were too good on the day beating us 17-15 in the 5th set. We look forward to a bye weekend to reset before the end of the season.

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State League Women defeated Reds 3-0

Stay in 2nd spot

Cats took care of Reds in 3 sets. The Reds ladies presented a new challenge in our first match-up of the season. Cats leader Chloe Street had an excellent game on serve and in offence to lead the Cats to a sweep win 3-0 over the young Reds team.
Sunday was a top of the table clash with ECU, last year's premiers. The Cats ladies started well taking the first set by a small margin, but were the first to lose focus in set two, giving up a couple of runs of points that they couldn't claw back and letting the second set run away from them.
The third was a tight set with neither team opening up a significant break until 19 all when the Cats put on a burst to close the set to 20.
The fourth set was where the ladies showed their grit, going down 12-5 in a slow start. Burning both time outs early, the Cats steadied the ship, and then served and blocked their way back into the game via an eight point serving run by Tessa Browne. ECU weren't able to hold off Balcatta, getting run over and giving the Cats ladies the 4th to 21 and the win.
It was a strong 4th set comeback, particularly by Cats leaders Holly Trpcevski who made a big impact on block and offence to help the team to a 3-1 win and confirm top spot on the ladder half way through the season.
The State League ladies team have a bye next week while Yun Han Wong, Caitlin Whincup and Tessa Browne head to AJVC chasing gold for WA in the U23 age group. https://junior-champs.volleyball.org.au/. Good luck Cats!

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State League Reserves Men lost to UWA 2-3

Stay in 7th spot

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State League Reserves Bye round

Stay in 2nd spot

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Division One Men defeated UWA 3-2

Move up one spot to 7th

This week the boys went into the game with renewed passion. A fired warmup had us gaining a great lead in the first set, holding a 3-point lead for the first half and breaking even at 20-20. Some strong play from UWA had us down 24-20 when we managed a hard fought side out. Dan Bendotti stepped up with a run of serves, forcing passing errors and weak offence which our blockers finished at the net. We ended up taking the first 26-24.

We took that same energy into the second but stumbled into a pothole mid set and found ourselves chasing a 6-point deficit. We fought back to 20 but unfortunately were unable to hold.

Every player stepped up their game moving into the 3rd set.

We concentrated more offence through the middle with Ari and Dom firing kills while drawing 2 blockers. This left open our outside hitters where Cameron and Dylan had a field day. We took the set comfortably.

UWA fired up in the 4th putting pressure on our backrow and stifling our offence. We played catchup until 20-20 and then fired back with a series of shutdown blocks taking a 24-22 lead. Unfortunately, as fast as we took the lead, we lost it and couldn’t close the set, eventually conceding.

Our guys were determined not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and so came out firing to take a 3 point lead in the 5th set with only 8 minutes on the clock. UWA’s offence just couldn’t get past our blocks and Richi’s spread of the ball in various combos had us hold a strong lead until timeout.

The coach was reminded to now keep stats on 6 packs as from last count we had racked up 13 with 6 alone coming from one poor UWA player.

Standout player today was Cameron Loader with many kills both from back row and front row coupled with clench shutdown blocks when we needed it the most. 

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Division One Women defeated UWA 3-0 

(25-10, 25-13, 26-24)

Maintain top spot!

First 2 sets we have no problem to finish. UWA did some mistakes and we didn't give the opportunity for them to make a point. Good sets, hits, services and a well organised team. Third set as expected we relaxed and fought every point finishing by two points. Our player of the week goes to Kadri, played very well, always helpful in every aspect of the gave, but had to leave in the 3rd set due to a back pain.

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Division Two Men defeated UWA 3-1

Stay in 7th spot

Wah Day filled in as player coach this week as James had a game at the same time.

First set the lads started off strong, with all the basics coming together, which complimented a win with a lead of roughly 10. Second set was tighter as we had a minor rotation change, UWA thawed out and errors crept (serve receive and service errors) into our game. The lads took the 2nd set with 2 points in the bank. Third set we started off behind the eight ball, as we had a player injure their hand at the end of the second set, so we had to do a minor shuffle with rotation. We kept up with UWA, but that’s when we had a great high followed by a devastating low. Tish our middle blocker ran this sensational B ball, which bounced inside the 3 meter line, which would have made the high lite reel at the VNL , although Tish was on the ground as he had landed wrong and was clutching his left knee. The game was stopped and we attended to Tish. Our injured player from the second set, strapped up their hand and we used them as our back up middle. After that injury, the lads couldn’t get the momentum back and we lost the set. Fourth set the lads showed how good they can be, with the loss of a middle, we put in a rotation that let our setter switch in and play middle and our back up middle could hit on the outside. We still had our errors, but managed to get some good service runs, great scramble, solid blocks and smart hitting to get the close win in the fourth.

Once again that pesky serve receive troubled the team, but it’s getting a lot better. We sat down as a team after the game and had a debrief, which was good as we could reflect on the game.

Everyone on the team did excellent at certain times of the match, although special mention needs to go to Antonio & Layne, both these lads stepped up in that fourth set. Antonio for making the decision to step up as our back up middle even though he’d injured his hand in the second set. Layne for playing 5:1 setter and middle block extraordinaire getting touches on at least 5 blocks giving our back court a chance to pass in a decent ball for Layne to set.

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Division Two Women defeated UWA 2-1

Stay in 4th spot

A controversial win for Div 2 women. 2-1 win over UWA after running out of time with the fourth set score 16-23 against us.
It was good solid play in the first two sets from our girls. Our errors led to us narrowly losing the first set 21-25 but after working hard in the second to reduce our errors we won 25-23.
The team took it to another level in the third set, really cleaning up their play. We followed our game plan by serving strong and putting their setter under pressure through our strategic placement of the ball The girls served and passed the best they have all season and started to look fluid in their transition. This allowed our front court to start hitting the ball hard, making for some great kills. Georgina had some great kills and serving runs in this set. We won 25-12 and UWA never had a look in during this set.
The fourth set showed some errors creeping in again with some service errors at crucial times.we were struggling to keep in touch when time ran out at 23-16.
It was great to get a win and move up the ladder to third, but it would have been sweeter to win on our own terms with a clean victory within the time limit.
A great way to finish the first round but lots to continue working on leading into the second half of the season.

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Division Three Men defeated UWA 3-2

Move up 3 spots to 7th!

I arrived basically as the game was kicking off due to my previous game. Thanks to Damo, Oliver and Caitlin for setting the team up prior to my arrival.

1st set: The lads came out with good energy and with all the basics coming together nicely. The team got a bit of a lead with a couple of service runs, but UWA clawed back a little of our lead although we still won the set.

2nd Set: The lads came out swinging. Strong serve receive, serving, defense and attacking contributing to a generous lead to take the win.

3rd Set: The team took their foot completely off the accelerator and lost all momentum. The lads got silent, and no mater what we did it just wasn't going to be our set. UWA must of have done a space jam moment, as their team came out like a new team, leaving our Balcatta Lads like deer's in head lights. The team lost the set 14-25

4th Set: After advising the Team that the 3rd set no longer existed, the lads came out of the blocks steady, all the little things where coming back together, the team still had errors and nerves but it was an improvement on the pervious set. Thanks to a great service run from Joel, there would have been a lot bigger margin on the score board, although the defiant comeback wasn't to be, the team ended up going down in the set.

5th Set: The lads came out strong, with less serve receive errors, more serves going in and consistent hitting. At the swap of ends the lads where behind 6-8. A solid service run from Ewan got the team back into the lead, which rattled UWA causing some unforced errors. It was nail biting race to 15, the lads dug in deep, let nothing touch the floor and won the set 15:13

Standout player today was our setter Joel Kanagalingam, for his multiple services runs in every set. Today where ever I instructed him to serve he nailed it.

Coach Wah Day

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Division Three Women lost to UWA 1-3

Drop 1 spot to 7th

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Division Four Men defeated UWA 3-0

Stay in 3rd spot

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Division Four Women lost to ECU Red 1-3

First loss of the season

Stay in top spot

The team had a tough game ahead of them, as it was the match up of 1st and 2nd on the ladder. The girls were already at a disadvantage as Chloe, a strong outside hitter, is away for this game. 

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First set saw Erika step up to set as the main setter was not able to make it until the second set. The girls tried to adjust to a 6 player rotation with a new setter and no libero. The girls fought hard but were unable to take the set and lost 18-25

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With Alice, the main setter stepping into the game, the girls were able to utilise a 7 player rotation with a libero. An unlucky receive resulted in a ricochet towards Alice's eyes, knocking her contacts out and causing a medical time out, however she was able to fight through the pain. The set was neck and neck and the girls managed to finish off with a 25-23 win. 

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The third set was also neck and neck, unfortunately towards the end, the girls seemed to have gotten nervous trying to close out the set, resulting in a chain of service receive errors that allowed ECU to take the set 23-25. 

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The girls were still having troubles with their service receive and were unable to fight back against the momentum ECU gained from the third set, losing the set 19-25 and the match.

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The girls have reflected on their first loss of the season and understand what they need to work on to come back stronger than before. 

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Notable players include Alice for putting the team first and playing even though she had been feeling ill beforehand and had her contacts hit out by the ball, and Kelsey for always finding the holes in the opposition's defense and placing the ball in the right spots.

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Division Five Lost to UWA 1-3

Stay in 6th spot

Division Six Men lost to Murdoch 0-3

Stay in 11th spot, bottom of the ladder :(

It was a tough fought match and the boys were straight out the gate, getting a nice lead in the first set, however they couldn’t seal the deal and win the set. Strong performances overall, just couldn’t quite make it to the finish line. Similar story with the next two sets, they start strong but couldn’t finish Strong performance as usual from Joel Bendotti, he kept the moral and energy high and is a strong well rounded player.

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Player of the Week.

Well done to Cameron Loader on Div1 Men with many kills both from back row and front row coupled with clench shutdown blocks when we needed it the most.

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Also Kadri from Div1 Women who played very well, always helpful in every aspect of the gave, but had to leave in the 3rd set due to a back pain.

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On Div4 Women notable players include Alice for putting the team first and playing even though she had been feeling ill beforehand and had her contacts hit out by the ball, and Kelsey for always finding the holes in the opposition's defense and placing the ball in the right spots.

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Strong performance as usual from Joel Bendotti on Div6 Men who kept the moral and energy high and is a strong well rounded player.

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Player of the Week goes to Div3 Men setter Joel Kanagalingam, for his multiple services runs in every set. Today where ever he was instructed to serve he nailed it.

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