Local secondary school through to All-Ireland Junior Volleyball Final
Back Row (L-R): Ms Rebecca Mooney, Olivia Collins, Isla Walshe, Carmen Camancho, Lola Mora, Carolina Gastanaga. Front Row (L-R): Ellianna McManus, Lucia Wright, Emme Lynch, Leti Laguillo.
A local secondary school is to compete in an All-Ireland volleyball final this afternoon.
The final will take place at 1:30 pm in the University of Limerick Sports Arena, where Athlone’s Our Lady’s Bower Junior Volleyball Team will take on Eureka College Kells in the bid to make the school champions for the 3rd time in three years.
The match will be live streamed on Volleyball Ireland’s YouTube channel.
The team secured their place in the All-Ireland Junior B Volleyball final after soaring to victory in their two semi-final games against St Brigid’s College Lough Rea and Patrician Presentation College Fethard last Tuesday, 1st April.
“The team, which is made up of 1st and 2nd year students, have been working incredibly hard all season, showing unwavering dedication to the sport with training sessions twice per week,” the school said. “On their route to the final, the girls took on and defeated teams from Mullingar Community School, Clarin College Athenry, Scoil Chríost Rí Portlaoise, Mercy College Roscommon, and Grange Community College.
“Across all of these games, we have seen some excellent defensive work from Carolina Gastanaga, who never lets any ball pass her by. Super setters Ellianna McManus and Lola Mora have shown great skill in ensuring the ball is set up perfectly for hitters Carmen Camancho, Isla Walshe, Olivia Collins, Emme Lynch, Lucia Wright, and Leti Laguillo.” Since the sport was first introduced to Our Lady’s Bower in 2022, volleyball has gone from strength to strength with over 60 students attending Junior (U14) Volleyball training after school and a similar number attending U16 training.
“This is no doubt a result of the incredible successes of our Senior volleyball students, who made the All-Ireland School’s Cup semi-final this year, were crowned All-Ireland Cadette Champions last year, and have won the Leinster Schools’ Beach Volleyball Championship for the last two years in a row.”
The school also thanked team coach, Ms Rebecca Mooney for her commitment and dedication to this team of talented young ladies.
