KUCHING: The Curtin University volleyball team, largely composed of first-time competitors, achieved a commendable third-place finish at the Sukan Masiswa Zon Sarawak 2024 Volleyball Tournament.
The two-day tournament, held at Stadium Datuk Kawada in the Samajaya Industrial Zone ended yesterday.
Curtin University’s captain, Sam Li Shun, shared that most of his teammates were first-time competitors.
“Actually, we were capable of reaching the finals, but since most of our players were juniors, they lacked the experience needed to handle such competition,” he told Sarawak Tribune yesterday at the stadium.
Despite the inexperience, Sam expressed his pride in his team.
“I’m happy to have a team like this. They are all still young, and I saw a lot of potential in them. I hope they will perform even better in future competitions,” he said.
He added that there were 12 players in total, with nine of them being juniors, while the remaining three were seniors who have competed in the tournament before.
The majority of his teammates are from Miri, while Sam, a Business Administration undergraduate student hailing from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, made his final competitive appearance in this tournament.
Sam is aged 20-years-old, while his teammates are between 18 to 20 years old.
“I’ll be assigning more responsibilities to the junior players because they have the potential to grow. I believe they will become even more capable in the future,” he said.
In their third-place match, Curtin University faced off against UNITAR Kuching, securing a 2-0 victory.
Curtin dominated the first set 25-15, before clinching a hard-fought win in the second set, 25-20.
