SHARON NYAYA
MBERENGWA – Evangelical Lutheran Church run Mnene High School is in cloud nine after coming third at the U20 volleyball girls and U17 netball Stella Tea national finals.
The U20 girls volleyball finals were held at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School in Victoria Falls on 14 and 15 July this year where the mission school scooped a bronze medal. Mnene made it through the qualifying rounds by beating Mosi-oa-Tunya High [2 – 0], Success College [2-0] and then Kanyemba High [2 – 0] in the quarter finals.
However, Mnene High were then stopped by Chibi High in the semi-finals. Mnene High clinched the bronze medal after overcoming Msengezi High [2 – 0] in the third place play off. The eventual title winners where Chibi High (Masvingo) who beat Rusununguko High (Mash East) 2-1 in the finals.
This success comes after Mnene High won the national title for U17 girls volleyball recently at Mazoe High in Mash Central to complete a double celebration this year.
Mnene High has previously settled for second position twice in the 2015 and 2019 editions of the U20 girls national volleyball games.
The headmaster, Francis Hove was very pleased with the team’s performance which has enriched the school’s trophy cabinet and medal haul.
The team coach, Chrispen Chibhira praised the girls for a great performance considering that the team was largely made from under seventeens yet the competition was for the U20 age group. He said the team’s future is very bright.
It has been a good volley ball season for Mnene High School all thanks to the girl child for raising the school and district flag high at national level.
This year, girls from Mnene High made the school proud as another team of U17 girls netball team made a third appearance at national level scooping another bronze medal in the process. The under 17 girls netball 2023 Stella trophy finals were held at Kuwadzana 1 High School, Harare, on 20 and 21 July 2023.
Mnene High cruised through the qualifying rounds by beating Mosi-oa-Tunya [24 – 6], Marembera [32 – 4] and Pamushana [21 – 11].
A 21 -16 victory over Chibi in the quarter-finals saw Mnene High storm into the semi-finals. The closely fought semi-finals game produced a narrow 22 – 24 loss for Mnene High which relegated them to the 3rd and 4th place play-off as Filchrist College proceeded to the finals.
The Lutheran school compensated for their semi-finals loss with a stunning 40 – 26 win over Mweyamutsvene to grab the Bronze medal. The tournament finalists were Filchrist College and Sobukhazi. This turned out to be a one sided affair as Filchrist clobbered Sobukhazi 50 – 26.
The post match awards saw a Mnene High player selected the best midfielder of the tournament. This is the third national trophy won by Mnene this year after the gold medal in the under 17 girls Volley ball, and a bronze for the under 20 girls volley ball and now another bronze with the Under 17 girls netball.
The headmaster, Hove was very excited about the win as he witnessed the girls’ hard work paying off. The team coach, Trust Matsheza was very pleased with the performance and saw the potential in the team from the high scoring nature of their wins. “This is a good year for us,” he said. Mnene High in the pas came 5th in 2017, runners up in 2018 and 4th in 2019 in the same U17 netball tournament category.
