There might be a few red-faced teenage boys in Dunedin at the moment - particularly those who play volleyball.
That is because they might have come up against Otago Girls' High School's junior volleyball team, a side undefeated in the city's junior boys secondary schools competition.
Led by captain Ella Rooney, the team of 14 and 15-year-olds has so far beaten Otago Boys' and Bayfield High School, while drawing with King's and John McGlashan College.
''It's exciting beating boys,'' Rooney said.
''Especially because they are quite arrogant and it's good for girls to be beating them. Sometimes they do get quite annoyed. They get quite frustrated when they lose and like blaming each other.''
When playing in the junior boys competition, the girls also have to contend with a higher net than they would usually play with in their own grade.
In addition to showing the boys how it is done, the Otago Girls' team plays in the Dunedin senior girls competition.
The team has won four of its five games against the older girls and is well placed a few weeks out from the South Island secondary schools junior championships in Christchurch.
Coach Jock Murley, who is also Volleyball New Zealand president, put the girls' success against the boys down to teamwork.
''The key difference is that our girls pass a whole lot better,'' he said.
''They are consistently passing into their setter. They can't always attack as hard as the boys, but they are more consistent in terms of their passing and they just work together well as a team.''
The team includes five players - twins Jenna and Taylor Thorne, Hannah King, Hannah Moore and Rooney - who played for the South Island under-17 development team at the Australian State Championships in Canberra last month.
It won five of its eight games in the Australian capital, and Murley said it was ''pretty unusual'' for almost half the team to come from Otago Girls', a school not traditionally strong at volleyball.
Otago Girls' has the opportunity to leave the Kavanagh College junior boys team red-faced when they play at the Edgar Centre tonight.
