June 30 Sydney Cedars visit to UTS was meant to be a training match, but the old rivalry could only mean business for both teams. Cedars take early control of the match winning the first set with good all around performances, but it was either a bit of tiredness from the many matches played lately or some loss of focus that gave some advantage to UTS who took the second set. In a 5 set match Cedars took the game 3-2 with an overall good performance by the team. June 26-27 match summary Friday seems to be a good day for the Cedars, The team started the match on fire, with well distributed attack from the middle with James, Nathan and Alex, which allowed some free action from the outside hitters. The first set was for the Cedars on a close match while the second set went to AIS. A third set established the middle again and cleared the way for an incredible display of front and back court hits from our French international Julian, which was virtually unstoppable. A last quick set to 15 as there was no time left for the AIS boys equalled the nr of sets for both teams. Saturday didnt go as planned and AIS took the game on a very close encounter. Canberra heat fought hard at times was no match for a highly motivated Cedars this time. Tonight Cedars will match their strenghts against UTS, 2009s SVL leader. Cedars half yearly Calendar will include: June 26-27 : AIS , Canberra Heat triangular. July : Match vs UTS August: AIS vs Cedars September: Cedars tour to Melbourne wich will include matches vs Heidelberg, Falcons and Blues. more to come. June 24 Sydney Cedars gets ready for a busy second half of the year. After winning Wollongong and Newcastle state cups, the Cedars decided not to play the sydney league and be part of more challenging oponents. Two matches vs AIS in where the second match ended in a fight to the end where AIS took the match 3-2 with not just the regular AIS boys but most of their international squad available in Canberra during that time, including Matt Young (setter, 2-time olympian). This weekend the Cedars will be looking for a rematch of the last battle hoping to get another great result. May 20 Alex Rogers will be departing to Thailand as an assistant coach for the National Youth boy’s team for the 2009 Thailand Jr. Volleyball Championship from the 18th to the 30 the May 2009. We wish him well and safe returns from al of us at the cedars executive committee, staff and players. May 02-03 Cedars took the state cups by storm!. Sydney Cedars completed the State Cup double by defeating Westside in the final. This is the 13th straight Newcastle title to the Cedars. Well done boys. The MVP award was shared by Julien Favre and Rafael Martinez, both from CEDARS. April 25-26 Cedars vs AIS part 2 Cedars travelled to Canberra again this weekend to get a rematch of last close encounter with the "local" national team. It was a very successful match again for Cedars, who although was a little short of players compared to the last time, it still came out strong with it's experienced starting lineup. 3-1 with very close sets on friday night, but it almost went the other way on saturday's rematch, while losing on an even tightier match 3-2, where the boys came out short of another victorious performance in preparation for New Caledonia Oceanic Championships later this year. April 4-5 2009 STATE CUP 1 – ILAWARRA 2009 The annual pilgrimage of the Volleyball faithful descended on Illawarra this weekend. Sydney Cedars came up victorious after an undefeated comp with only 2 sets lost during the whole competition. With some players missing and some others only available for a few games, the team managed to take the first state cup of the year winning against the new entry team Canberra Heat during the preliminary pool match, as they showed up with a very strong side with players from the National team as well as most of their AVL lineup. It was a final to remember, against their Arch-enemies UTS, who despatched Canberra Heat in two tight sets and managed to come back from a set behind to take the match and championship after two unsuccessful years in Unanderra. A very successful first tournament win for some new players like Alex Rogers, who is a seasoned player already with his 20 years of age, being part of the Semifinalists team, Canberra Heat, as well as AIS and other NSW state teams. A fantastic return of Rafael Venegas, ex Mexican National team captain which added depth and experience to the team, While Our own James Meredith took the MVP trophy on a stellar performance tournament-round. March 28 2009 The first international tournament of the year was held in the AIS sport centre in Canberra. Asahi volleyball team, representing Japan, Canberra Heat, AIS and Sydney Cedars represented each state and country at this spectacular competition in preparation for the year ahead. First AIS lost to the Japanese team 1-2 which showed how deep the competition would be (they initially played throughout the week and were tied at 2 matches each.). The second match was another win for Asahi against Canberra heat by 3-0 giving them a nice lead into the next day’s finals. Cedars played Asahi and beat them with the same result, while rotating their lineup, using almost all the available options with the old and new players. Julian, the new French adquisition played a phenomenal match hitting from behind the court and from position 2 leaving the defense exposed most of the time. Darren and Sebastian distributed the attack flawlessly to make it easy for Alex, Marz and the rest of the front attack as well as the back, while giving as many balls as possible to James, Alex R. and Nathan who had not only a great performance in attack but making as many blocks as winners. Canberra Heat played against a completely different lineup for the Cedars, who had a full roster this weekend. And lost to Cedars 2-1 on a pretty straightforward match. The final match was played between AIS and Cedars. Cedars started the match with great blocks and excellent defense to put the AIS on their toes and almost took the first set 26-28. Need to mention the incredible job by Nathan and James, first blocking and then getting winners through the middle, which established the rest of the attack as well as the rest of the game. Darren had an almost perfect match, directing the team and exploiting it’s strengths as much as possible. AIS took yet another set on a similar result while Cedars rebound to take the last set 25-23 with great job from the subs when needed to help lift the team spirit and take the third and final set. This is no doubt the start and preparation the team needed to boost their confidence on another successful year. March 2009 Cedars is preparing hard for this year's volleyball season. With already planned trips to play the AIS, Japan and Canberra Heat and an international selection of teams in both The Asia pacific Invitational championship and the World Masters, to be held in July and August this year. February 2009. Training is well underway and a great response not only from former players but from completely new additions has been recorded for the Cedars this year. It will be a very interesting and exciting year for the Cedars with lots of local and new international assets added to the team, which will help not just the already formed team but will establish a good base for the development of the younger members of the team that are already showing great improvement, such as Denis and David from Trinity Grammar. January 2009 A new season starts. After a long break, the team will be getting back togheter to begin a new campaign that will include various tournaments and trips in and out of Australia. If you want to be part of this great team just contact us to start training with us this tuesday 3rd of Febrary.