Santa Sabina trip crowned state champions at volleyball competition

Three Santa Sabina College students were crowned the state champions of division three at the NSW Beach Volleyball Schools Cup.

Three Santa Sabina College students are the state champions of Division 3 Schools Beach Volleyball NSW: Chloe Devine, Kate Morgan and Lara Zeppieri

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Three Santa Sabina College students were crowned the state champions of division three at the NSW Beach Volleyball Schools Cup.

Chloe Devine, Kate Morgan and Lara Zeppieri swapped their Strathfield classrooms for Manly beach where the competition was held last Monday.

Chloe said they competed more for “fun” than anything else.

“We didn’t go in with any expectations so to come out with a win made the experience better,” she said.

The year 11’s love for the sport has continued to grow since she started playing in year six.

“I’ve been playing it every year since then and have a really big passion for it now,” she said.

“I’ve become pretty competitive and am about to go away to the beach volleyball nationals, representing NSW, in five weeks.

“I’ve made it into selection trials for the Australian team for the last three years. It would be cool to make it into the Australian team one day.”

Santa Sabina won bronze in division two and placed fourth in division one.

The school remains the number one ranked all girls’ school for volleyball in Australia – the fifth year running.

They are also the Champion School in the NSW Volleyball Schools Cup

Santa’s Volleyball co-ordinator, Yuri Chernenko puts their success down to the College’s volleyball program’s strong ongoing support by coaches and parent managers.

“Many of our ex-students go on to play and coach at national and state level while also finding time to come back to Santa and help with coaching”, he said.

“One of our assistant coaches this year is Mikaela Stevens, currently in the NSW team and an ex-student of the College”.

Kate Morgan said it was her first time playing on the beach.

“The final was pretty close, it was neck and neck and equal for the first bit then Chloe got a streak of serves which put us over the top,” she said.

“It’s a team sport and the people who play it are a fun-loving group of people and we’ve become really good friends over the years.”