Volleyball Association of Ireland

Junior Irish Women's team travel to the Faroes.

Junior Irish Volleyball team play with pride in the Faroes.

On Thursday last the Irish squad took to the court against the host nation after a long journey from Dublin. The girls were met by a great reception in the hall by the locals and after the National Anthems were sang out proudly the game began.
The Irish girls started very well racing into an 8-3 lead with some great serving and attacking. Although the Faroe’s tried hard to match the Irish girls they were always chasing the game in the first half of the set. Big serving from Kildare captain Katie Nolan kept the girls ahead as the set progressed.
Slowly but surely the Faroe team started to find their stride and with the roar of the local crowd behind them, ate into the Irish lead. At 20 all it was still anyone’s game but nerves started to show and the Irish team just couldn’t finish out the set going down 25 21.
The second set started slowly for the girls as they could not find the rhythm that got them ahead in the first set. Despite the Kildare hitter Aebhín Nuggent coming on, the girls found themselves 19-9 down. However the Irish team were far from finished as Kildare twins Karen and Sarah Benn found their hitting arms the Irish team started the comeback. Mayo girl Lisa Needham started defending every Faroese hit and the team fought back to 20 16.
The Faroe’s coach took a time out to settle his team and the last part of the set was hard fought with both sides giving their all. Despite the great comeback for the Irish team they lost out the second set by just 3 points.
The third set followed the same pattern as the girls once again gave the Faroe’s an easy lead. Galway girl Ailis Loughnane was introduced and despite big blocking for the middle player the girls could not keep up with the local team. Although the Irish team never gave up the battle they lost the last set 25 18.
Day two saw the team take on the very strong Luxembourg team. Although Luxembourg went into the tournament as strong favourites they lost their first match against Liechtenstein 3 0. As firm underdogs going into the game the Irish girls certainly did not play like that.
The first set was very tightly fought as the Irish matched Luxembourg point for point. Kildare Setter Heather Clancy combined well with Galways Ciara O’Rourke to keep the Irish in touch and at 16 all the set was anyone’s. However the incredible strong hitting by the Luxembourg number 3 forced her team ahead and they took the first set 25 19.
The following two sets continued along the same lines with the Irish girls fighting hard as young Aisling Clancy hit very strongly through the middle. But Luxembourg always had the edge over the Irish as their strong attackers took every chance they got winning the set 25-15.
Coach Sheridan brought Galway girls Amy McDonnell on in the third set to try add some power to the attacking line. Amy started the set with a brilliant jump serve scoring the first of many points for the Irish.
Again a hard fought and close set was played out in the third as the girls played out of their skins. Twins Karen and Sarah Benn again fought hard at the net as Sarah was deemed best blocker at the end of the match. Luxembourg though played some strong and clever volleyball and won the set and match in the third 25 16.
Coming off the court against Luxembourg all the girls wanted to do was play again and they couldn’t wait to get back on the court. Their final match was against the mighty Liechtenstein who were yet to drop a set in the tournament. Most had the Irish team written off at this stage but the Irish girls had different ideas.
The Irish girls started unbelievably well. The plan was to serve hard and then try to block and defend the Liechtenstein number 9 who won hitter of the tournament. Not only did they do that but the Irish hit harder than they ever had before and defended amazingly to get an early lead in the first set.
At 8 3 up the atmosphere was electric and the Irish soaked up everything Liechtenstein threw at them. Unlike other games where the Irish got an early lead before allowing the opposition in, the Irish girls really forced the game and with some brilliant hitting by Nugent and Clancy the girls went in at the final time out at 20 16 ahead.
For the first time in the tournament the Liechtenstein team were truly rattled but the Irish girls still had to keep their cool and go on and win the set and that’s exactly what they did. The never say die attitude of the Irish shone at the end of the set with the girls playing the best volleyball of their lives. With huge shouts from the Irish parents who had travelled with the team the Irish girls performed what many said was the impossible and won the first set 25 19.
On a massive high going into the second set the Irish girls once again started the set well but an angry Liechtenstein began to take over as the team served and hit harder than they had all tournament and they really took control of the set winning it 25 13.
But it was not the end of the battle by any means. In the third set the Irish girls once again defended and attacked better than they ever had and they matched Liechtenstein point for point and at 12 all they fight was well and truly on. Some strong serving from the opponents gave them a 15 12 and where many saw this as the turning point again the Irish girls defied all odds winning the next 4 points and going into the final technical timeout 16 15 ahead.
Coach Sheridan again tried to calm and focus the girls to get them through the rest of the set and with Needham, Nuggent, Nolan, the two Benns and sisters Aisling and Heather Clancy playing the games of their lives, the girls fought hard to get the game to 20 all. It was at this point that the Liechtenstein’s biggest attacker hit the front court and she definitely found her attacking arm winning the next 3 points. The Irish replied with their own strong attack but the mighty power of a Liechtenstein won out winning the set 25 21.
Having given their all in the first 3 sets the Irish side started to tire in the fourth and with Kilkenny girl Elaine McGeary entering the court for her first international cap the Liechtenstein team took full advantage. Racing into an 8 1 lead in the set the opponents really started to find their grove having been forced to play even better by the tough Irish side. Kildare girl Orla Lynch was brought on late in the set and scored two great points giving the Irish side something to cheer about again. However Liechtenstein were not happy to allow the Irish team to fight back again and they won the set 25 12 and the match 3 1.
Despite losing the game the Irish team celebrated as if they had won. An overjoyed Coach Sheridan remarked after “we played this team two years ago and they beat us 25 1 in one of the sets. I can’t believe that we have improved that much and to be the only team to take a set off the top team is absolutely amazing”.
The Irish side finished the tournament on a high with the players learning an awful lot from all the matches. Coach Sheridan said after “I’m very proud of the team and what they achieved this week. I couldn’t ask any more of the girls. Even though we didn’t win a game when you see your team not only play their best but raising their game to another level has made me the proudest coach around”.
Coach Sheridan went on to say “we left the same tournament two years with our hearts around our ankles because of the beatings we got by these teams and to know that we have made significant progress and are now competitive with these teams is extremely satisfying. I’m delighted for the girls who have put in so much hard work over the past two years and very grateful for the help and support from Assistant Coach Claire Walsh and Manager Crona Byrne.
The Irish team will take on Northern Ireland on St Patricks weekend and will hopefully continue their amazing progress then.

Next Tuesday, January 10, the Irish Junior Women’s Volleyball Squad will represent Ireland in a European Championships for Small Nations qualification tournament in the Faroe Islands.
The tournament begins next Thursday (Jan 12) when the Junior Squad take on the hosts at 7.30pm, and the action continues the following day when the Irish girls will play Liechtenstein at 5.30pm. Their final match will be against Luxembourg on January 14 at 1.30. You can follow live scoring on the CEV website at http://www.cev.lu/LiveScore
Captained by Naas girl Katie Nolan, the team is made up of Aebhin Nugent (Naas), Ailish Loughnane (Loughrea), Aisling Clancy (Naas), Amy McDonnell (Loughrea), Ciara O’Rourke (Loughrea), Elaine McGreary (Kilke

nny), Heather Clancy (Naas), Karen Benn (Naas), Lisa Needham (Kiltimagh), Orla Lynch (Naas) and Sarah Benn (Naas).
The team is coached by Marie Sheridan, assistant coach Claire Walsh and Manager Crona Byrne.
Please follow the link below and wish the girls well. All support would be greatly appreciated!

Irish Junior Team wins Fair play award at Flander’s Easter Tournament

The Irish Junior women’s team took home the Fair play trophy from the 12th Annual International KBC volleyball tournament held in Gooik Easter weekend. The squad of 17 played 4competitive matches over the 2 day tournament which saw them face some excellent competition in the form of Marr College, Scotland . Jola Olympus , Netherlands. Sportgym Dornbirn, Austria. And EMVB Lyssois, France.
The Irish Squad having only trained together twice and with only one international match versus Northern Ireland under there belt proved that they have a very bright future.
In their fist match versus Marr College the nerves and heat affected the team as they lost two early sets and could not recover against the stiff competition. It was a different story in the 2nd match of the day as the girls settled into some fabulous Volleyball against the French team and although they could not secure a result some of there all round play drew them many spectators and admirers.

The second day saw them pitted against the eventual tournament winners in the first game the team were undaunted and in high spirits from the previous day. The Irish team tested the Austrian team from the start and were unlucky to lose by only 2 points in all three sets which was a fantastic result for this Developing Irish Squad considering the standard of opposition.

In the final match of the day the girls faced the Dutch Club team and were hopeful of securing at least a set unfortunately the exertions of the weekend started to show and they lost the first two sets. The team then showed the spirit which drew them so many admirers over the weekend and dug deep in front of the 15 travelling supporters and played some exceptional Volleyball to take the last set off the Dutch team.

The team who are aiming to compete in The Small Nations European Championships next year have gained some invaluable experience as well as proving that there standard of Volleyball is steadily improving which bodes well for the future.

The team won many friends and admirers in the way they represented there country which lead to them receiving the Fair Play Trophy at the closing ceremony which topped off an excellent weekend for Irish Volleyball.

Irish Junior Development Squad:
Sarah Benn                             
Heather Clancy
Ruth Ryan                              
Ailish Loughnane
Ciara O’Rourke                      
Ashling Clancy
Amy McDonnell                    
Emma Prenty
Eithne Coleman                     
Lisa Needham
Karen Benn    
Tara Power                             
Katie Nolan                            
Aebhin Nugent                      
Leanne Campbell
Orla Lynch
Gina Burke

Coach: Marie Sheridan
Assistant Coach: Tara Dawson
Manager:  Crona Byrne

NIVB hosts Annual St Patrick's Weekend International Tournament 2011

Venue: University of Jordanstown

Saturday 19th March
Time	Sport Hall 1	Time	Sports Hall 2
11:00	NIR Youth Women 1 - 3 IRE Junior Women	14:00	NIR Junior Women 2 - 3 IRE Junior Women
Match Report>>
Sunday 20th March
Time	Sport Hall 1
14:00	Senior Women  - NIR 0 - 3 IRE  (25-19, 25-19, 26-16)
From back left - Asst Coach Rebecca Drummond, Lisa Rohan, Anita Dowling, Caroline Tunney, Ruth Healy, Claire Treacy, Debbie Murray, Edel Nolan, Head Coach Mark Delahunty. From front left - Deirdre Mc Loughlin, Kate Ryan, Regina Ni hAlpin, Aoife Carroll, Marie Claire Sabogal, Emily Ryan.
International success for our Senior Womens Team   Last Saturday, 20th March 2011 saw our Senior Womens National team achieve a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-16) victory over Northern Ireland at the annual St Patrick weekend tournament 2011.   This was the first International fixture of the season and each of the players rose to the challenge.  Head Coach Mark Delahunty and Assistant Coach Rebecca Drummond, brought 13 of the top players in the Republic up to University of Ulster Jordanstown (UUJ) to compete in this 1-day International fixture and the players did not disappoint.   Whilst a victory was the ultimate goal for the Irish Team, Mark and Rebecca had other objectives that they wanted to achieve from the day.  It was important to demonstrate that all the hard work at training since last September had paid off and that each of the chosen players is a vital cog in the Irish team going forward to the 2012 Small Nations Championships.  It was a huge credit to the players abilities that whenever the lineup was changed, they remained confident and came away victorious at the end of each set.  Thus, competition within the team itself is high and if you consider that each one of the travelling players achieved some court time, individual performances will continue to improve in an attempt to retain their place on court.  All of this bodes extremely well for future competiton which is likely to be overseas in early June.   Liz Barry Manager

Women's 2011 CEV European Championships - Small Countries Division

BLOG

The Squad

Delegation

Fixtures

Pool B 11th - 13th April 2010 Malta

Irelands Fixtures

Pool B Other Fixtures

Luxembourg would be the strongest in the group, San Marino would also be quite strong.

Iceland are an unkown quantity to us, so the focus will be on implementing our tactics and putting in a good team performance. We would be looking for decent set scores and with that then there is always the possibility of sneaking a set or two.

Malta would be the team that we are aiming for and working for a strong result. We played them last year on a training trip and eventuallu beat them on te last day. It's not a given result in any way - all of our games have been close to date but we certainly have a strong chance against them and we would definitely be looking for sets at least from this game. This is the first game of the competition (Maltese coach did excatly what I would have done and so the fixtures say that he plays us first!) so we need to perform from the very start.

The focus for us this time round is twofold - to put in a strong team performance that we can use to take us forward, learn from our performance and improve through each game and to learn from the teams that we play - strengths, weaknesses, Tactics, etc.

All-Stars vs Squads Results

All-Stars Men's 1-3 Irish International Men's Squads

All-Stars Women's 3 - 0 Irish International Women's Squads

Women's Junior Squad European Small Nations Finals

8th - 10th April 2010

Luxembourg

The women's Junior squad set off next Tuesday April 6th to compete in the European Small Nations Finals in Luxembourg. The team will play four matches in three days against Malta, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Cyprus.

Please join us in wishing them the best of luck in all their games. A lot of preparation and hard work has been put in by both the players and staff over the last two years and a great performance afainst Nortehrn Ireland in the Patricks Day competition meand that they go to Europe in full confidence.

visit the VAI website for updates on results, etc. each day

Women SCD - Luxembourg

8th - 11th April 2010

THE BLOG

6/4/2010 
We arrived at Dublin airport at 11:00 in our savage tracksuits. We boarded the plane and it was tiny, it was like our private jet. When we landed in Luxembourg we noticed immediately how rich the country was all the shops in the duty free being designer. We got a bus to the hotel and got to see the country for the first time, a lot of huge buildings covered in glass, the architecture was breath-taking. Emma Stafford described Luxembourg perfectly “It’s like the lights are on but nobody’s home” We got to the hotel and it was wicked. Xbox 360 HELLO!!! Everyone got a double bed each so we were delighted! We unpacked and met in the lobby to go in to the main part of Luxembourg for a meal. It was Deirdre O’Sullivan 18th birthday so we all sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We took a little walk around and took a few jumping pictures! We went back to the hotel and went to bed early as we will have a very busy week.

7/04/2010
We all met for breakfast and everyone was complaining as no one could sleep as the rooms were sooooooo warm. Breakfast was amazing even though we weren’t allowed to touch the fry! 6th years went back to their rooms to study and everyone else went to the hall for a look around and found a table tennis tournament everyone was well impressed. We went to the hall as a team for a light lunch before training. The hall was very professional. We had a training session for an hour and a half. The hall was soooo warm aswell. After training we all came back to the hotel, got changed and got a bus to a shopping center. We had an hour and a half of shopping and then went back to the hall for dinner. We had spaghetti bolognaise.  We then came back to the hotel, had a bit of crack for a while and then went to bed...

08/04/2010
We got up for breakie at eight o clock. We then left for training at nine. We trained underground which was pretty cool. After training we went and watched Cyprus and Lichtenstein, they were both brilliant. Cyprus won 3 sets to 0. After this match we went and got our lunch, which was chicken and mushrooms, was lovely. Then we all got warmed up for our first big match against Malta. We started with an early lead but Malta came with some powerful hits from the Opposite which then lead to a 3 nil loss 25-22 in the last set. Tired after our match, we headed up for dinner which was a lovely lasagne. We headed back into the gym where Luxembourg and Lichtenstein were playing. It was a great match but Luxembourg were fighting to have a 3 nil win. In the end they won 3 nil. We went back to the hotel after the match and went to bed.

09/04/10
Today was our hardest day yet. Alarms went off at 6.40am for a light breakfast at 7. We trained from 8 until 9, which went well. Everybody was feeling pumped up, excited, and positive for our first match of the day against the reigning champions and hosts, Luxembourg. We wore our white and navy jerseys banging out the National anthem! We put up a huge fight throughout the game with great blocks from Deirdre O Sullivan, Clodagh Behan and Aoife Cooney, who unfortunately was suffering from a sore throat! Marie, Crona, Lisa, and Joey came to Aoife’s rescue and she played awesome! In the end Luxembourg won but we learned a lot from playing a team of such high standard. Even though we didn’t come out on top, we kept our spirits up. Our Mammys will be glad to know we were never left hungry in Luxembourg so no surprises when it was time to eat after the match! Then it was back to the hotel for a bit of R & R where Siobhán, our physio, treated the crippled. In the evening we had another match against Lichtenstein so we needed to rejuvenate and be ready for that match. A team photo was taken before the match in our green kit. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way. We found it hard to believe that we could succeed. But this is what we came here to learn. We are excited to return to our schools and show them what wehave learnt. Although we didn’t win the matches today, there are some great positives to be taken from our performance, with super receiving from our libero Stephanie Mellett who was 5th best passer of the tournament. Overall, today was a hugely beneficial experience to everyone involved.

We got a lie in this morning, after a hard day yesterday we decided on having a different type of training (including balloons!). The team bonding had us in high spirits for our match against Cyprus. So far, the Cyprus girls have been one of the friendliest teams here. We decided that they needed our support in the big match in the evening against the Luxembourg team. However, friendliness was left aside come 12 o clock and we stepped out for the last time in the green jerseys. We fought hard for everything with every point worth ten. One intense rally seemed to last forever. Before we played we laid out our aims and many of us achieved them. April Higgins was jump serving and our blocking was extremely effective again today. We also discovered the photos of the matches on the internet (www.photo.lu). The photos definitely caught some of our best moments. Deirdre O Sullivan, Clodagh Behan, Aoife Cooney, and Kate Bryan can be seen in full flight!

After some jellies (well earned), we relaxed and packed after the Cyprus defeat. We were excited in anticipation of the Cyprus and Luxembourg match so we ventured to the Cyprus rooms to borrow some jumpers and to learn some names to shout! Magdalena, Stalo, and Evelyn taught us a clap routine which Ciara taps on every surface touchable! We watched in awe of the Luxembourg and Cyprus match. The speed and movement of players was incredible. We shouted for them like our own and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next, we had the closing ceremony where we lined out and received a certificate for our participation. We headed back up to the restaurant for a lovely dinner (we ate so much in the last 5 days!). After a few chants, a few pressies, lots of photos, and many laughs with the Cyprus girls, we left the hall belting out the Fields of Athenry!! We enjoyed the rest of the night looking back on our amazing 5 days in Luxembourg. Whatever happens after this, we can all say that we have learnt invaluable things from this trip.

St Patirck's Weekend Tournament

The Women’s Senior and Junior National Squads would like to thank everyone who participated in their Fund Raising Draw which took place at the St. Patrick’s Weekend Tournament. Many thanks to all of you who supported this very successful fund raising efforts. The winners were as follows:

1st Prize - €500 Winner - Tom Stafford Seller - Emma Stafford
2nd Prize - €300 Winner - Mick O'Grady Seller - Aoife Caulfield
3rd Prize - €100 Winner - Mary Kearne Seller - Shauna Maher
4th Prize - €100 Winner - Lyndsey Condell Seller - Lyndsey Condell

Venue

St Mary's College Naas

Results

Saturday 13th March

Sunday 14th March

I want to thank everyone all for their support and effort over the last few weeks which made our St. Patricks Weekend a great success.  It was a great weekend of volleyball and demonstrated the potential across all of our national teams.
 
A particular thank you to St. Mary's College Naas who provided the venue to us free of charge and to Naas Volleyball Club who help set up and run the event providing everything from ball girls and linespeople to refreshments as well as generally doing a lot of the running around.
 
There are too many individuals to list so a huge thank you to our referees commission, referees, scorers, the VAI office staff, the parents and players in Naas VC, all our players and staff across all squads and anyone else that I may have missed in this list!

Johann Cardiff

Head Coach, Ireland Women's Volleyball Squad