'Improving each game': NWSSA boys show heart during tough campaign

The young side featured three players from Tamworth, four from Armidale, and three from Glenn Innes, and struggled throughout its campaign against more experienced teams.

Team manager Stephen Bartolo knew the side would face some adversity throughout the competition, which ran in Bomaderry from Tuesday, March 22, to Thursday, March 24, due to the volume of new faces it contained.

"It's a fairly new team, there are only three boys from last year's team so we knew it was going to be tough," Bartolo said.

"The boys improved lots throughout the tournament. We had three games that went to a third set, that could have gone either way in that third set."

Up against three of the formidable Sydney teams on the first day, the NWSSA boys lost comfortably by two sets to none in each match.

However, they produced one three-set battle against the South Coast, and were consistently more competitive against the non-metropolitan teams.

Though they finished in last place by the tournament's end, without a win to their name, Bartolo was pleased with their performance.

"All in all, they played pretty well," he said.

"The biggest thing was that they were improving each game and playing good volleyball.

"We just made some fundamental errors, like hitting serves into the net on crucial points quite a bit. The first two games were really tough, against Sydney North and Sydney East, who both played the final. They're both exceptional teams, so it was a tough start, but they kept getting better throughout the carnival."

By the end of the week, two NWSSA players had been recognised for the strength of their performances.

Armidale Secondary College's Hassan Shaqooli was voted the Most Valuable Player and received a Coaches Award for his efforts, while Oxley High School's Lewis Williams was named in one of the East vs West sides.

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