The Tuks women players were over the weekend instrumental in helping the  Gauteng Thunderbolts to win the National Indoor Volleyball League in Kempton Park as well as a silver medal in the beach tournament. 

Nicky Wenhold (Tuks) captained the Thunderbolts to their historic victory. It was the first time that women got to compete in the league. Five of her teammates were also Tuks players. 

Tuks's Khutso Letsoalo teamed up with TUT's Sam Sibiya to contest the women's beach tournament final. 

The indoor final turned out to be sweet revenge for the Thunderbolts. During the pool games, they lost to the Western Cranes. Wenhold was, however, not too fazed by the result. She predicted that when it truly matters, the Thunderbolts will step up to the plate. That was what happened on Sunday. 

Not that it was easy. The final turned out to be a ding dong battle with the Cranes taking the first set. The Thunderbolts then levelled the score taking the second with the Cranes taking the initiative in the third. That, according to Wenhold, turned out to be the turning point. 

"When we were 2-1 down, it sunk into all of us that we are again facing defeat. It got our adrenaline pumping. Slowly but surely we started to claw ourselves back into contention. When we won the fourth set, it was if our fans also woke up. They truly got behind us. Rooting for every point, we won. I think it got be slightly intimidating for the Cranes." 

The Thunderbolts won the fifth set.  Vanessa Sardinha-da Silva, Lerato Sibiya, Potlako Moloisane, Janka Meyer and Shani Klopper were the other Tuks players in action.

Letsoalo and Sibiya caused a surprise by qualifying for the beach volleyball-final. Up to the tournament, they never played together. 

"We only had the opportunity to train together twice. I think what made it work for us was that we are both very competitive. We never play to lose. What also helped is that we quickly started to trust in each other's abilities," explained Letsoalo.

The Thunderbolts opponents in the final were the experienced Western Cranes combination of Bejancke Della and Christin Delcarme. 

The first set was quite a tightly contested affair up to the 13 point mark. Unfortunately, from then on, the more experienced Cranes started to dominate. It led to them winning the set 21-16 and the second 21-10.