Winchester Eagles Volleyball Club

Last night, the Winchester Eagles Mixed Team played the last two games of the 2021-22 SADVA Mixed League.
The Eagles, who had not dropped a single set this season, faced SVC Mixed 2 and Roke Muppets.
The first game was against SVC. After a slow start, the Eagles soon found their rhythm and started imposing their game, securing the first set 21-15.

In the second set, the Eagles upped their game. Their aggressive serves and relentless strong attacks through the middle and through the wings put great pressure on the SVC team, giving them no chances for a come back. In the last few points, Paul came in to serve and he got ace after ace after ace. The second set was quickly over with a convincing 21-12 score.

In the second game against Roke, the Eagles had a head start as Angie (hear hear!) won the toss in a challenging rock-paper-scissors against the Roke team captain.

The Eagles were not going to throw away this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start with the serve and Parakhram promptly got a run of aces. This, combined with winning hits from the whole team and quite a few incredibly strong hits from Andy through the middle, quickly got the Eagles to a 9-0 score.

The Eagles soon decided to give Andy a rest, as he had an injured thumb due to a brave dive on the grass last Wednesday. Gareth took on the role of middle player and did extremely well. With such a huge lead, the Eagles were able to try some combinations and played some shoots through the middle and through four and went on to win the first set 21-7.

The second set was also an easy win, with Roke barely reaching double figures. Soon, Olli joined Andy resting on the bench, whilst Gareth and Paul dominated through the middle and Claire, Parakhram and Fab put great pressure from the wings, leaving setter Angie spoilt for choice.
The Eagles took the second game 2-0, becoming undefeated champions of the Mixed SADVA League.

Unfortunately, there was no trophy up for grabs but this season the Eagles dominated the SADVA League, winning in all three categories (Ladies, Men and Mixed). What a season for our fast-growing club!
After giving Andy Edwards a well-deserved thank you card and bottle of wine for running the three SADVA leagues single-handedly, the Eagles headed to the pub for their celebratory drinks.

After so many victories not only in the SADVA Leagues but also in HVA, some club-wide celebrations are certainly overdue and we are sure our social secretary Marshy will soon be on the case so…. watch this space .

The Winchester Eagles Ladies did it. In their debut season, they won the Southampton and District Volleyball Association League. Undefeated. Finishing top of the league with a perfect score of 36 points, 18 points ahead of the team that came second (New Forest). What an achievement for a ladies’ team that has just started out!

Last night the Ladies had to face SVC and Roke, who came armed with a battery of NVL players, hoping to steal a game from the Eagles.

Well, the Winchester Eagles were not prepared to let that happen. Far from being intimidated, they rose to the challenge and imposed their fast-tempo game, with aggressive serves, smashing hits and very disciplined defence.

Fab kept everyone busy with her excellent ball distribution, Nina and Liz were unstoppable through the middle, whilst Katie, Angie and Liv kept the pressure from the wings. Beth, in her new Libero role was simply amazing, making it very hard for the opposition to score any points at all.

The ladies took the first game against SVC with a very convincing performance. The only trouble the opposition was able to cause was through some hard float serves from one of their NVL players but thanks to David”s strategic moves, the Eagles were able to quickly recover and take the game 2-1, winning the tie-break with a very convincing 14-9 score (there was no time to finish the set!).

In their game against Roke, the Eagles were on fire. Excellent defence meant they could run relentless middle attacks through the middle. Liz had an incredible game and the opposition could do nothing to stop her from smashing the ball to the ground again and again. Definitely MVP for the evening. In no time, the Ladies had taken the first set 21-13.

In the second set, Tania made her debut with the Eagles Ladies with an excellent performance through four. The Eagles took the second set 21-15 to win the game 2-0.

The SADVA League Cup was passed on from defending champions SVC to new Champions Eagles Ladies with loud cheers and the new Eagles Team call perfected by Liv.
Customary celebrations at the pub duly followed. A huge thank you to coach David for everything he has done for us. A big thank you also to all our supporters. It was really nice to play with some fans!

Today our juniors took a fourth trip to Cams Hill School for the last Hampshire Volleyball Association Junior Grand Prix of the 2021-22 season.
After a few last-minute drop outs, the Eagles were able to field three teams: White Tail Eagles (Under 12 Mixed), Black Eagles (Under 14 Girls) and Brown Snake Eagles (Under 14 Boys).
Each team had a super busy afternoon, with eight games to play, three to ref and hardly any breaks.
All our athletes performed extremely well, showing outstanding skills, great team spirit and a very good dose of resilience, as they often had to face stronger teams consisting of older and more experienced players.
It was great to see how much our youngsters have grown this season. In just a few months, they transformed themselves from absolute beginners to competent and versatile players, able to compete at a very good level and to adapt to different team combinations and to fast-paced games.
They certainly made coaches Andy and Angie very proud today. A huge thank you to all the parents who came to support them on such a sunny afternoon. The player of the tournament award for the Eagles Volleyball Club went to Reyhana for her excellent team spirit and her ability to support and encourage her team mates at all times. Our training session will continue to the end of term and our juniors are certainly looking forward to more competitions next season. Well played everyone!

It was an intense volleyball weekend for the Eagles Mixed Teams. On Friday, both Mixed Teams competed in the SADVA League, playing each other in an all-Eagle derby as well as facing the SVC Mixed team. The veteran Eagles team secured both games with 2-0 victories, whilst the younger Eagles put up a good fight in the derby and lost to SVC.
On Sunday, both teams played in the last Mixed HVA Grand Prix of the 2021-22 season. With a total of eight teams competing, the Eagles sides had to play a total of seven timed games each. Both teams did extremely well, one securing fourth place and the other team taking home the gold (and a yummy box of celebrations – a much needed energy booster after so much volleyball).
The club is very proud of all its players, who have shown great volleyball skills, total commitment and awesome team spirit throughout the season.
It’s amazing how much our Eagles have grown, both as individual players and as a team. A tribute to our coaches and all their hard work this year.

The Winchester Eagles ladies today competed in the South East Volleyball Association regional finals as one of the teams representing Hampshire.
The tournament included the two top teams from the Division 1 County Leagues in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Berkshire and Sussex. A total of ten teams, split into two pools of five.
The Eagles had to face Farnborough first, the team that would end up top of the pool. It was a tough game and although the Eagles tried their best, Farnborough took the game thanks to their aggressive and consistent serving.
The Eagles realised that they needed to improve their pass if they wanted to compete against teams with such strong serves, so they decided to start playing with a libero.
This stabilised their pass and defensive game and the matches against Dartford and Epsom were very close. There were many moments of brilliance, with quick sets through the middle that completely threw off the opposition block and some fast-paced attacks from the wings that wrecked havoc in our opponents’ defence.
The Eagles fought hard and gave their 100% for every point. The team grew incredibly throughout the day, with each game better than the one played before. They definitely played at their best in the last game against the Sussex Dolphins.
Although they didn’t make it to the finals, our girls showed great resilience, amazing team spirit and most of all a really big heart.
What an amazing achievement for this newly formed team. The club is very proud of every single one of you. Well done everyone!