Gala Day

Volleyball 

2nd of September 2024

We got on the bus looking like pros, and we all were excited for the events for Gala Day, volleyball. We arrived at Dandenong stadium, we sat down on the floor until we got instructions and what court we were playing on. We got ready, we had put on our knee pads, and elbow pads. We went to our court where we were going to play on, which was court 10. We had practised 20 minutes before our actual game started, we played pepper and practised our serves, outside hits/ inside hits (spiking) digging, setting and catching, we didn't know that Volley Stars was replaced by the actual original volleyball rules, which was a bummer but it made Tishayini, I and the team stressed and anxious since we practised more of Volley Stars than volleyball. 

After 20 minutes of practice, our first game had begun. We were up against Saint Paul's Apostles, and the game started. We played rock paper scissors to see who would start the game on the first serve. They got to start first, they served and missed. Our reflexes and dug it over the net, scoring a point. We won the first and second set, we won the sets by 16 and they had 11-10 points. We won the first game which built up our team's confidence but we were all still anxious for the next team/game. Next we were up against Southern Cross, they were a strongish looking team, we got stressed, but we won the first set 16 to 9 which was really surprising. We tied in the 2nd set with them getting 14 and we got 14 points each. Next we were up against Saint Paul's Apostles A team. We did good but the umpire gave them free points for hitting it out, while the umpire said we hit it out but it was st Paul's Apostle who hit the ball out, we sadly lost due to the free points which made us lose a bit of confidence but although we were sad we were excited for the next match which was our last school to go up against. 

Lysterfield primary school, which was an all boys team, meanwhile we were an all girls team we got ready for the match, and started playing. They got the first serve and scored a point which throwed us back a bit, since they were a very strong, willful, and determined team. We lost our first set and won the 2nd set, but the umpire stopped at 5 minutes for a playful volleyball match which didn't count in points. We had finished our games so we went to go and watch the basketball team and see how they were doing. 

The basketball team played hard but lost all games but one. After some time Mrs. Moran, and Mrs. Hudson announced that we somehow got into the finals which was really surprising for us. We were up against Lysterfield once again but in the finals, we were all anxious but we stayed strong for our school. We served first, Ella. P served first for our team and instantly backfired hitting it out giving them a point they won the first set, it was my turn to serve for the 2nd set, their smiles dropped and instantly became serious, which made me gain a spark of confidence in me, so I focused, I served and scored a point, it was still my turn to serve since I kept scoring points.  

Then it was their turn to serve since they scored a point receiving one of my serves, we instantly received the serve and played strongly, my team and their team were battling for 1st place, we were basically at each other's throats trying to score points which made us do a kind of big rally. Tishayini landed a point ending the rally soon, also lead by Ella. L scoring a point too.  We lost the set sadly to 15-13 but we were happy that we got 2nd place in the event. We were surprised because the other teams had coaches and we didn't have one to teach us. 

We were surprised and happy how far we got into the event. 

We went back to school and left for home.

Today we found out that we have been invited to the next round because we were one of the few all girls teams.

Mara and Tishayini 5/6