Vabukori add another title to collection

VABUKORI (VAVA) retained the national open men’s title for the 14th consecutive time beating Fairfax 3-2 at the Taurama Aquatic Centre on Monday night.
VAVA, who qualified for the championships by affiliating at the 11th hour, went through the process unbeaten with their expereinced line-up and confirmed their domination of PNG volleyball.
VAVA did not have it all their way and had to go up another gear as Fairfax matched them physically throughout.
VAVA won the deciding set 15-12 after being taken to a tie breaker by their fellow city rivals.
In the women’s division, the National Capital District Volleyball Association (NCDVA) defended the title for the fourth time after shutting out Fairfax 3-0.
It was all tiring experience as teams had to go through a lot of pressure and stress to complete the round draws and to finals that saw the games played well after 10pm on Monday.
Despite being required to play late the teams took up the challenged and remained focused on their matches.
In the men’s tier two final, newcomers Moukele beat Port Moresby Corporate 3-1 and Vabukori outplayed Mekeo’s Inaubui 3-1.
These two association earned promotion to tier one at the next national championships.
The other associations that took part in the national championships Kimbe (West New Britain), Hula and Sogeri Valley (Central) and Huon Gulf (Morobe).
PNGVF vice-president Kila Oli said the standard at the association level had improved as witnessed in the games after the introduction of the tier competition system last year. “From my observation, all the teams enjoyed their games regardless of the tier they were competing in,” Oli said.