Sporting News 

Table Tennis State Finalists!

On the morning of Wednesday 9 August, the Nossal Senior Girls Table Tennis team went to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, eager to play our very first state finals. We played against three schools, which included Gilson College, Yarrawonga College P-12 and Brentwood Secondary College.

We started warmups as soon as we arrived, unable to contain our excitement, as we had trained so hard for this day. As the stadium began filling up with people, we started to have more intense rallies with each other, practicing for the shots we would make in game.

Our first competitor was Gilson college, which after some intense matches, narrowly defeated us; with the score being 3-3 games won and 14-13 sets in their favour. Our team managed to secure a win against the second school, Yarrawonga College (5-1, 15 sets to 6). This boosted our morale going into the next matches and gave us the chance to make the semi final. The last school we competed against was Brentwood Secondary College, our toughest opponent yet. Every point felt like a whole set, and each shot got harder to play against as the game progressed. After a tough battle, the final scores were 3-3 games, 13-13 sets and 222-221 points, which meant that Brentwood had secured a place in the semi-finals with Nossal giving it everything we had. We were disappointed to narrowly lose and miss out on a place in the semifinals. 

Overall, our team came 5th and although we could not progress any further, we had learnt and improved so much in just one day. We hope that the experience we gained will carry us through future tournaments! Thank you very much to the captain Caron Sequeira, Marion Liew, myself, Vinamraa Naidu, Janice Lim and Hadar Flenner for being great team mates, encouraging one another and giving it our all until the very end! 

Thank you to Mr Armistead who coached, supported and cheered for us throughout the whole day! Congratulations to all players who competed and we look forward to trying our best to qualify for state finals next year! 

Julie Lor – Year 10