Arafura 2011 – Volleyball – Day 2

Another full day highly contested Volleyball at Marrara Indoor Stadium.

Our local teams played well but were unable to come out on top. NT men started things off in the morning against Papua New Guinea who controlled the first set, winning 25-17.
NT rallied and fought hard to keep toe to toe with PNG who won the second set 25-22.
PNG started the third set firing, winning successive rallies to gain a 6 point advantage. Our boys fired up and fought to get back within 2 points but were unable to chase down their opponents who won 25-21.

While many of us were having lunch, the NT women were warming up for their match against defending champions Macau.
NT Women started strongly and took the lead in the first set, scoring some great points but were unable to to contain Macau who rallied to take the set. The Macau defence only got better as they managed to continually keep the ball alive to win the next two sets and the match.
Set scores were: 25-21, 25-17, 25-16.

The NT Men were ready for their 1:30pm match against Macau, but were forced to wait as an epic battle of wills took place between South Australia and Papua New Guinea – National Capital District.
PNG had already managed to win the first two sets of the match and looked as though they would also take the third when South Australia fired up and won successive points to come from behind and take the third set. Souths kept the momentum going and quickly took the match to a 5th set race to 15.
With the game on the line, both teams fought tooth and nail and Souths had managed to reach match point with a 1 point lead. PNG managed to win the rally and tie it up at 14 all, before winning the next two rallies to win the match. Set scores: 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 14-16.

After their longer than expected wait, NT Men hit the court eager for their encounter with Macau. Unfortunately for the NT Men,  their opponents proved to be the better team, defeating them in straight sets

You can see the results for Day 2 mens here and here. The women’s day two results are here.

NT Setter John Lay sending the ball to the awaiting Matt O'Brien. Pic from DarwinHub.com