Vipers Women Claim Bronze, Defeat Storm 3-1

The Melbourne Vipers have claimed Bronze in the 2023 Scape Australian Volleyball Super League Women’s competition, defeating the Adelaide Storm 3-1 at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo.

Adelaide Storm started strongly, getting out to an early lead in the opening set and putting the Vipers on the back foot trailing by five points. Melbourne improved slightly to close the gap, and at 11-13 coach Karl Lim called their first PowerPlay which his Vipers used to change the momentum, winning two out of three rally points and then running away to win the set 18-14.

The Storm started the second set in a similar fashion to the first, jumping out to an early lead, but this time they didn’t give it up, leveling up the match and winning the set 13-18.

The Vipers then won the first 12 rallies of the third set unanswered to blow the Storm out of the water. Caitlin Waterfall was inspirational with her serving during that run, and Melbourne won the set comfortably 18-6 to put them at a big advantage in the quest for the Bronze.

Adelaide again started the fourth set better, opening up another early lead, only to get reeled back in once again by the Vipers on the back of some precision finishing by Jemma Stokes and some brilliant saves by Libero Rochelle Sisson-Lim. With momentum all in favour of the Vipers, they wiped off a seven point deficit to win the set 18-15 and claim the Bronze Medal.