Volleyball Round-Up

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UKZN Volleyball is off to a great start in 2023 with our senior female teams scooping gold and bronze podium finishes at the KZN Winning Nations Opening Volleyball Tournament.

To add to the team’s growing list of accomplishments, UKZN Volleyball players won four out of five special awards at the tournament. Keshnee Moodley, our libero (defensive specialist) secured the Best Defensive player award; Carla Parsons, one of our middle players, was the Best Attacker; Nontsikelelo Sithole the Best Setter and team captain Busisiwe Maposa the Most Valuable Player.

The Senior UKZN 1 male team was knocked out in the quarter-finals, playing 2022 Gold medal Volleyball South Africa (VSA) Champs, Predators Volleyball Club. Our boys, with a fairly new team, placed exceptionally well, but lost 2 - 1 to Predators.

Maposa congratulated her teammates on their performance at the tournament. ‘It feels great to have won our first tournament this season. We’ve put a lot of work into it; with Coach Marcie Harold reminding us along the way to keep pushing hard because after winning every tournament last season - especially the VSA Champions Cup 2022 - every team is looking forward to beat us!’ 

Said Maposa: ‘Last year was a special year as the UKZN Women’s Volleyball team made history and became the first team from KwaZulu-Natal to win the prestigious VSA Champions Cup! To maintain that winning streak we needed to work extra hard and stay humble. It’s nice to know our hard work is still paying off and we are doing well as a team once again this season.

‘We should keep working hard and pushing ourselves. Let’s keep playing for each other, trusting one another and enjoy this season while doing our best. As Coach Marcie says: “Let’s dig deep and keep doing good things”.’

UKZN Sports Manager Mr Mark Bashe paid tribute to the team for once again flying the UKZN flag high. ‘We are truly excited with the achievements from our ladies Volleyball team as they won the KZN Tournament. As the current South African Club Champions, our UKZN ladies team continues to thrive and produce provincial and national team players. We will continue to support them as they reach greater heights in the volleyball arena,’ said Bashe.

Maposa, a UKZN Education student who works as a volleyball coach in schools and the UKZN Volleyball Academy team, spoke about highlights during the games. ‘For me the special moment in the tournament was when our third UKZN female team - our juniors - were playing against the Liberte VC junior team. It was amazing to see the support from the whole UKZN Volleyball family from the men, to the women and our amazing parents, who are always there supporting UKZN Volleyball. The atmosphere and passion of our junior girls, who fought hard and won that game, was phenomenal!’

The UKZN volleyball teams are made-up of a variety of players - from high school juniors to UKZN students, UKZN alumni players and senior club members. To find out more about joining the team, or supporting our teams at their games, check out our Facebook page UKZN Volleyball Club and follow the teams' activities on Instagram @ukznvolleyball

Words: Raylene Captain Hasthibeer

Photographs: Supplied