MSA Alumni WE 111222

Another good week for our MSA alumni here at home and abroad.  Check out what they have done.

A-League

Congratulations to Matt Bozinovski on his debut for the Melbourne Victory.  Matt came onto the ground in the 71st minute in Victory’s 1-0 win over Macarther FC. 

Rhys Bozinovski started in Western United’s 2-1 loss to Perth Glory.

A-League Women

Naomi Thomas Chinnama played for Melbourne City in their 5-1 win over Newcastle Jets

MelindaJ Barbieri started for Adelaide United in their 1-0 win over Western Sydney

Badminton

Congratulations to Jacob Schueler and Gronya Somerville who have been selected in the Australian team for the 2023 Oceania Mixed teams championships in New Zealand next February.  Also selected for the Junior tournament the week before is Year 9 MSA Student Shrey Dhand

NCAA Football

Congratulations to MSA Alumni Adam Korsak capped off his illustrious college football career with a well-deserved honour.  The greatest punter in Rutgers football 153 year history was recognized as the best punter in the nation last week when he was named the winner of the 2022 Ray Guy Award. Adam became the first Scarlet Knight to earn a major national award.

Korsak leads the NCAA record books in three categories: career punts (349), career punting yards (15,318) and net punting yards in a season (45.25 in 2021). In 2022, he ranked third nationally in punts (75), led the Big Ten in fair catches (35), pinned 32 kicks inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and gave up -11 return yards on the season. Korsak never had a punt blocked in his career, and at one point, kicked 150 consecutive punts — a stretch spanning four seasons — without giving up a touchback.

Australian Schools tennis Championship

Maribyrnong Sports Academy has once again risen to the top of the Australian Schools tennis world by winning the boys division of the National Competition in Albury, while our girls team finished in 8th.

Starting with the girls, while their official place was 8th on the standings it is not indicative of the closeness of the competition over the week.  On the first day our girls lost by a set to the team that went on to be runner up in the tournament.  Super tie breakers had to be used to decide the winner of the girls second match on the afternoon of day 1. Unfortunately, the super tie breakers didn’t go our way.

On the third day MSA lost by one solitary game to the team that would eventually go on to finished third in the tournament.  MSA Head Tennis coach Marc Souphlis says he is so proud of the girls and their efforts. “Our girls’ team can really hold their heads high after playing some amazing tennis and pushing very capable teams right to the limit.  The work ethic they showed, and their determination will take them even further in the tournament next time around”

It was the first time the boys’ team had won the tournament since 2016.  The boys went through the week undefeated which is an amazing effort but by no means did they have it their own way for the week.  The effort put in by the team in the Semi final and Final was amazing.  The Semi Final on Tuesday afternoon was really close, and the final went down to the doubles.

Early in the tournament the players had to overcome cramping and fatigue due to heat and humidity and having played 2 rounds in the same day.  Recovery sessions were being held before the day’s play at 6am and after the days play at 7pm. 

The final game of the tournament was played against Applecross High School in Perth.  While our students are used to playing on the hard courts, this tournament was played on grass and due to the facilities available to Applecross back home it was expected they would have a large advantage.

Team captain Filip Sormaz lead the way for the Marby boys while Bridget Mihulka was the captain for the girls.  Both were inspirational for their team winning big matches and staying engaged and supporting the team when it was needed.

Coach Marc Souphlis praised the effort of everyone involved “All in all this was an amazing week.  I am so grateful to the many staff that came up and supported both teams and the parents that also made the journey to Albury.  As a school I feel we represented so well.  We have around a tenth of the budget of most tennis schools out there, and for us to compete at that level is an amazing feat.”

“Without the support of all the strength and conditioning staff, our dietitian, sports psychologists, PE teachers, coaches, parents, and athletes we would not have achieved the outcome we finished with.  The trophy we won was won over a 3 year period including all the work that the students did through the covid period.”

MSA ALUMNI WE 041222

We have a lot to cover this week in our Alumni and current students report as we look back over the last two weeks of sport.  Check out these results.

AFLW.

Congratulations to Libby Birch who won her 2nd AFLW premiership, this time for the Melbourne Demons in their victory over the Brisbane Lions by 4 points.  Libby racked up 8 disposals and 4 tackles in a solid defensive performance.  Libby won her first AFLW premiership with the Western Bulldogs back in 2018.

Monique Conti won her 5th AFLW club best and fairest and her 4th for Richmond, making her the first player in AFL history to win 5 consecutive club best and fairest, having won the award at the Bulldogs in 2019 as well.

Congratulations to Jess Fitzgerald on her awards won at the Western Bulldogs best and fairest.  Jess was awarded the Coaches Award and the Community Award.  Jess also placed 5th overall in the Best And Fairest, won by Bulldogs superstar Ellie Blackburn.

Tennis

A massive congratulations to our boy’s tennis team who went to Albury and won the National School’s Competition.  It’s the first time our boys’ team has won the tournament since 2016.  Congratulations to Mark Sophoulis and his team of coaches and players on their achievement.

Badminton

Gronya Somerville has won the Victorian Championships Women’s and Mixed doubles over the weekend while Jacob Schueler won the men’s competition.

A League W

Aimee Medwin came on to the field in the 11th minute for Western United’s in their 2-1 win over MelindaJ Barbieri’s Adelaide’s Untied.  MelindaJ came on for United in the 63rd minute.

Naomi Chinnama came off in the 71st minute for Melbourne City in their  3-0 win over the Brisbane Roar.

Polly Doran has scored her first goal for Crystal Palace in the 39th minute in her teams 1-0 league victory over Lewes. 

Cricket

Fergus O’Neill was part of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield win over the arch enemy NSW over the weekend.  Fergus made 16 and 25 with the bat and took 1/51 and 0/16 in the second innings.

Golf

Steph Bunque finished 15th in the Women’s Australian Open played at Victoria Golf Course.  It was a world class field which included the British Open winner and the World ranked number 5, fellow Aussie Minjee Lee.  Steph started off with a 3 under par 69 at Victoria and then fired a 78 at Kingston Heath in the second round.  She recovered extremely well in the final two rounds at Victoria scoring a 70 and 72 finishing even for the card over her 4 rounds, 12 shots from the leader.

Weightlifting

Congratulations to Teagan Newman on winning silver in the Australian Weightlifting Championship 76kg category.

US Sports

A big week over Thanksgiving in Lexington, Kentucky for MSA Alumni the Berry brothers.

Oscar played with the University of North Florida basketball team against the University of Kentucky in front of 20,000 at Rupp Arena.

While Wilson played with the University of Kentucky football team against the University of Louisville in the Kentucky Governor's Cup (26-13 win) in front of 60,000 at Kroger Field.