Volleyball is set to be a big hit at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium with more than 700 seats already sold to an international game in November.– Marc McGowan
DANDENONG Basketball Stadium will host the first international volleyball match in Victoria since 1998 when the Australian men’s team plays Argentina in a best-of-five series starting 6 November.
The last international match in Victoria was played between Australia and Brazil at The Glasshouse, now the Lexus Centre.
That match attracted more than 3000 spectators, and 700 seats have already been snapped up for the November clash since ticket sales opened a week ago.
“We are expecting it to be a sell-out within a few weeks,” Volleyball Victoria executive director Terry Jones said.
The matches will be in preparation for the World Championships in Japan, which will be played later in the same month.
The Argentineans, ranked sixth in the International Federation of Volleyball world rankings, will be favoured over the 24th-ranked Australians.
“We took the first set off them last time (at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games) before losing 3-1, and we are hopeful of a close game,” Jones said.
Argentinean coach Jon Uriarte is a former Australian coach and helped organise the matches between the countries.
Australia will compete against 23 other countries at the World Championships and came through the Asian qualifying draw.
Australia is one of six teams from the region playing in the World Championships, joining nine from Europe, four from the North/Central America and Caribbean region, three from South America and two from Africa.
