The open girls' team travelled to Melbourne for the tournament, which attracted competitors from 353 schools across Australia and New Zealand.

The team was entered in Open Girls' Division Two and coach Jemima Finlayson said the players achieved a magnificent result considering many were still aged under 15.

"The juniors played exceptionally well, considering they were in an open division," she said.

"Most people couldn't believe we would enter Year Eight girls in open, but the whole team performed so well."

In each pool, the team had to make the top three to move into the next pool.

They came first in pool one, with one loss to Toorak and wins against The Gap (Qld), Peninsula (Vic), Mooroolbark (Vic) and Aberfoyle (SA).

They were placed second in the next pool, with one loss to Luther (Vic) and wins against St Mary's College (SA) and Mt Barker (SA).

In the semi-final, the Moss Vale girls came up against Brauer, but the Victorians were no match for the Highlanders, who netted a two-nil victory.

This result guaranteed them a medal - and gave them another shot at overcoming Luther, in the gold medal play-off.

Tragically, Luther served up a storm, spiking Moss Vale's hopes of gold, with a final score line of two-nil.

Yet Finlayson said the Moss Vale girls were more than happy to come home from a national championship with silver.

She said the young members on the team would ensure Moss Vale High remained a strong volleyball performer for years to come.

"They'll hit their straps fairly quickly, I think we'll be hearing from them in the future," Finlayson said.