Rebels, Melbourne University Renegades claim 2022 Warrnambool Seaside Volleyball Tournament top honours

The Melbourne-based outfit sent its strong supporter base into raptures after beating Melbourne University Renegades - a Volleyball Victoria premier league team - in a five-set thriller on Monday.

Rebels came from two sets down to secure the title, 21-25 20-25, 25-22, 25-20 and 16-14.

Coach Toalima Pope was thrilled for his players.

"It was amazing to be part of the Warrnambool tournament," he said.

"It was an awesome tournament. It was a big challenge against the number one club in the Victoria state league, it was a big effort by the boys."

Pope said the crowd helped Rebels rally when they found themselves down early in the contest.

"There's a lot of families. They enjoyed the weekend and supported our boys," he said.

Rebels would like to join the state league competition and are currently "keen to play as many tournaments as possible".

Its female team finished runner-up to Melbourne University Renegades in the women's honours final in four sets.

Renegades were forced to fight for every point as Rebels - with tournament most valuable player Camilla Vaotuua in sparkling form - pushed the contest to the wire.

Melbourne University coach Tanya McInerney said the 25-17, 27-29, 25-21, 25-22 victory was the ideal preparation for its state league season which begins in April.

"We were looking forward to playing Rebels. We played them in the first game and lost," she said.

"They are a very good team and hadn't dropped a game for the whole tournament so we knew it would be a challenge.

"We had done our research - we'd watched them, watched our videos and we knew how we could beat them and we put all those strategies into play and it worked.

"The girls were fantastic. They really wanted it, we came together as a unit."

McInerney said her team loved challenging itself against unfamiliar opponents.

"What we love about the Warrnambool tournament is we play teams we don't play normally - like all the South Australian teams," she said.

"Rebels are Victorian. It is great to have variety of competition and it really challenges us."

McInerney said Rebels "could very easily play premier state league".

It was Renegades' fourth consecutive women's honours win at the seaside tournament and third with McInerney at the helm.

"We love Warrnambool. It is a really important factor in our pre-season preparation and we'll back again next year," she said.

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