Mpumalanga women’s teams surprised many when they set the a new record at the 2022 Junior IPTs and at the National Volleyball League respectively. The Mpumalanga U/19 young stars became the champions of the 2022 U/19 IPTs after showing great volleyball performance. It was a new record in the history of SA volleyball that a team from Mpumalanga can punish highly respected provinces at the IPTs which was hosted on the 11th to the 15th of July 2022 in Limpopo Province, Polokwane (Ngoako Ramathlodi Sports Complex). The young stars won all the matches until the finals. Drawing from the IPTs semi-final fixtures, the unstoppable Mpumalanga defeated KZN by 3-0 to secure the final spot. The Mpumalanga young stars further defeated North West by 3-0 on the battle for gold medals to become the Champions of the 2022 Inter Provincial Tournament (IPT).
Meanwhile, the Mpumalanga womens’ senior team also fought the battle by reaching the finals at the 2022 National Volleyball League. The Mpumalanga’s team had displayed brilliant volleyball by reaching the finals on their first appearance at the highly competitive tourney. It was unbelievable to see Mpumalanga coming back very strong after losing their opening match to North West by 3-2 score. Quoting from the semi-finals, Mpumalanga outplayed Limpopo on the 2nd semi-final match by 3-0 to cement their final spot. The Mpumalanga stars walked away with the silver medal after losing to Gauteng in the gold medal match by 3-0. It was for the first time that Mpumalanga reached that far at a highly contested competition and it really demonstrated that teams are now coming with new techniques and approach to volleyball competitions.
Everyone is wondering if Mpumulanga will come back with the same performance in this year’s competitions. They rewrote history, will they maintain their status is a question. We shall see at the IPT which is set to take place on 26-30 Jun 2023.
Article by Jacob Thamaga
VSA PR & Media Director
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