South Coast girls take home the win at State CHS Volleyball tournament

The CHS Volleyball tournament sees the best teams and athletes from all ten regions of the state come together for a week of high level action packed games, vying for a selection spot in the CHS representative team.

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Off the back of a strong year of training, the South Coast Girls took home the win, drastically improving on their fifth place finish last year.

The team showed supreme poise, as they flew through their field of eight matches only dropping one to secure their place in the final.

The South Coast girls met West Sydney in the grand final in what was set to be an evenly matched game.

The girls got off to a slow start in the first set against West Sydney who delivered some early punches but they quickly gained traction and found themselves right back in the game.

The match was neck and neck but the South Coast girls were able to just pull away in the first set to win it 21-15.

The second set started off very slowly for both teams, with neither side appearing to be the aggressor.

The sides continuously traded punches staying pretty much locked throughout, but when it mattered most the girls were able to pull away to secure the win 21-17 in what was a nail biting finish.

With an amazing turnaround from last season the team should be beyond proud of their achievements.

Their hard work and dedication as well as the group's top notch coaching has got them right where they want to be.

After the match, the NSW CHS Girls Volleyball Team was announced with Alexandria Smith making the team along with fellow South Coast teammate Rachel Heron who hails from Ulladulla.

This was huge achievement as only a small number of players make the team.

The SouthCoastRegister was able to catch up with sisters Alexandria and Mireille before the big match to discuss their mindset heading into the match.

The Callala Beach sisters began playing the sport back in 2019 when Alexandria was asked by her teacher to participate in a Volleyball NSW gala day. She quickly fell in love with the sport.

"I think I just really loved how aggressive the sport is, even though it's non contact. I used to do martial arts so I loved the intensity of volleyball and how hard you can smash the ball," Alexandria said.

Coming off a fifth place finish in the previous CHS comp, the sisters said the team had been preparing hard to make a push in this years comp.

"Our team has definitely gotten stronger, a year of training has helped significantly and having that extra time together as a group has been great," Alexandria said.

The team preparation throughout the year had been the same as previous years but the sisters felt that playing more games against the boys sides this year really helped strengthen them.

"We played a lot against the boys teams which I feel was really beneficial for us, because obviously they are really strong and it gives us a really good test," Alexandria said.

The team at this point had already beaten a number of strong sides in the CHS comp and you could tell there was a confident buzz in the team as they inched closer to the grand final.

The sisters are not only guns at indoor volleyball but have also seen great success in beach volleyball, even winning medals at the recent junior championships at Mollymook.

Alex took home the Bronze medal in the Youth Girls U21 Bronze Medal Match.

Mireille won the Gold Medal Match in the Youth Girls U16 bracket subsequently taking home the medal of the same colour.

The dynamic duo of sisters will soon fly to Coolangatta for the Australian Youth Beach Volleyball Championships, with both sisters having a good chance at medals.