South Gippsland Volleyball’s largest beach volleyball competition took place at Inverloch on Sunday 28th of January.

Attracting 27 teams from across Gippsland and metro areas, the competition dressed the beach with six full beach courts.

Teams of families, school mates, volleyball beginners as well as some of Australia’s elite players competed in this social competition – the longest continuously run beach volleyball competition in Victoria. The competition is in its 31st year.

The quality of play attracted plenty of spectators along Inverloch’s stunning foreshore and were rewarded with fun but competitive games.

Ninja Nets defeated Eastside Hawks to earn the top division’s Grand Final.

Congratulations to Ninja Nets: Lachlan Morland, Jack McIntosh, Lachlan Bray, Tom Boyle.

In the Green division 1, Silly Peppers were runners up to Seasalted (Lloyd Lok, Zach Ceola, Les Kosem and Alba).

In Green division 2, Jessie Tan’s Ride or Dive were too strong for the Sun Blockers.

Congratulations to the local team, Ride or Dive (Jessie Tan, Noah Anderson, Darren Gardiner and Antonella Olmedo).

The Orange division was the tightest competition for the day with four of the five teams finishing the round-robin matches on equal points.

In the end, local team Beached seals won (Esther Caarels, Rebecca Caarels, Ethan Caarels, Andrew Noble and Joemar Gloria).

In the Blue division, another local team, the Herbs, took the top honours (Michael Axford, Christopher George, Tim Berger and Ashton Westwood).

The Yellow division was the most colourful court on the sand as the Beetles and Vikings enjoyed their Grand Final game.

The Beetles, in their first entry to the competition, won their division (Erin Webster, Seb Jakobi, Clay Jakobi and Grace Orfanellis).

Other winners on the day included Erik Webster who won the lucky raffle and Cal Goldsmith who won the player door prize which was a shirt signed by Olympic and World Champions Giba and Mauricio Lima from Brazil, donated by VIP.

The strong performances exhibited by local teams in the tournament set the scene for an exciting Junior program and social competition this season at South Gippsland Volleyball.

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