Monash University Volleyball Club

OUR HISTORY

From humble beginnings in the 1970’s Monash University Volleyball has grown to be a major player on the Victorian Volleyball scene and with its entry into the Australian Volleyball League in 2003 strives to establish itself as a serious contender and major player on the National Volleyball scene.  

Monash Volleyball has grown from a mere 2 teams in the late 70’s early 80’s to a small juggernaut consisting of 9 senior men's and women's teams and anything up to 4 boys and girls junior teams in the Victorian State league of today and Men’s and Women’s  AVL representation.  Indeed at one stage the club was fielding 21 teams in National, State and local competitions.

What has motivated such a growth in participation has been the continued work of a dedicated group of individuals whose love of the sport  has engendered an infectious feeling and love of the game and its challenges in all who came to the club.

The club for a number of years was a well performed Division 2 club with the ability to produce quality players but failed to keep many of those players as they sought to challenge themselves at a higher level.  Finally in 1989 the club broke through into the top division in Victorian State league and has since maintained a position in that competition and grown accordingly as players stayed with the club as they saw a career path to success and elite volleyball. 

Soon after the Men’s development the club’s women's program was able to develop some and attract others to have enough quality players to move into the elite women’s competition and has since maintained consistent representation at the level.

The club has also been a consistent representative at tournaments all over Australia and has always been a solid performer at the Australian University Games where at one stage the women’s team won four straight championships from 1989 – 1992 and the men won 5 out of 7 times between 1990 and 1996.

The club has always seen the development of all levels as critical to success and so has fostered a strong relationship with Mazenod College Junior Volleyball program which to this day provides many of its elite male players. The club has enjoyed great success at most levels in Victoria with the highlight being winning the Victorian Women’s State League competition in 1996. The first major win for the club at the elite level.

The club had long fought a view that University Volleyball was not serious volleyball and would never achieve success on the court.  Ironically it was once said at a State League Delegates meeting in the late 1980’s (by a then member of the board of VVI and well known coach and player of a very successful Victorian volleyball club of the 1970’s & 80’s) ) that  the Division 2 volleyball  that we played at the time was not serious volleyball and  clubs at that level were not going anywhere.  Famous words at the time to those present from Monash and it is with a quiet smile that Monash Volleyball wins the Tomas Santamaria Trophy for the Best Club in Victorian State League for the 3rd time in 2005, while that board member’s club is non existent at any Volleyball Victoria State League level.

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