Shuqun overcome Yishun Town to enter final

VOLLEYBALL

National Junior U-16 Boys Volleyball Championships 2007
Semi-finals
Shuqun Secondary vs Yishun Town Secondary
Saturday, 17th November 2007 at Hougang Sports Hall

Pictures and story by Red Sports volunteer Lai Jun Wei and Red Sports reader Tiong Ting Shan.

Shuqun Secondary (SQS) beat Yishun Town Secondary (YTS) 24-26, 25-11, 15-11 in the semi-finals of the recently concluded National U-16 Boys Volleyball Championships.

YTS spiker fires the ball into the SQS block. © Lai Jun Wei

The warm up session saw SQS spikers fire off impressive thunderous spikes into the YTS court. YTS managed to show off some shots of their own but were seemingly intimidated by the taller SQS players.

Lawrence (#4, SQS) spikes the ball through the YTS block. © Lai Jun Wei

The first set started off very tight as good blocking by both teams denied anyone from taking an obvious lead. This went on for almost the entire duration of the match. YTS reached set point at 24-22 when a quick attack by Henry (#7, SQS) went into the net. Henry attempted the shot again on the next point but instead did a drop shot which the YTS #8 failed to receive. The score stood at 24-24 when miscommunication between the YTS setter and his players saw two fake passes produced but yielding no hits. YTS #14 then spiked the next ball into the SQS block. However, a ‘double’ by SQS gave YTS a set point. A spike out of bounds by SQS then gave YTS the set at 26-24.

SQS centre spiker Henry (#7) spikes against the YTS 3-man block. © Lai Jun Wei

The 2nd set was not as close as the first as SQS flexed their muscles. The powerful spikes seen during the warm up were brought into play as they fired shot after shot into the YTS court. With their strong play, SQS pulled ahead to 18-8. A service by SQS #6 was then received by YTS and spiked back at SQS. Weak blocking on the part of SQS gave YTS a point to reach 18-9. However, the next ball was duly received by SQS and Henry (#7) spiked a “thunder”, which deflected off YTS blocker #2 into the empty centre area of the YTS court. SQS #11 earned another point when his serve just clipped the line to be called ‘in’. The second serve was received and given to Clarence (#7, YTS) to spike. However, it was successfully blocked.

Henry (#7, SQS) spikes from the outside into the YTS block. © Lai Jun Wei

At the 23-10 mark, a spike by Lawrence (#4, SQS) saw YTS unable to receive it to give SQS set point. YTS denied SQS the win when a spike from the outside by Clarence (#7, YTS) scored a point for his team. However, Lawrence sealed the second set at 25-11 for his team when he spiked from the outside.

SQS #6 taps the ball over the YTS blockers. © Lai Jun Wei

The game was now into a rubber set. SQS took the first point with a failed spike from YTS. However, Lawrence returned the favour by spiking the second ball into the net. A SQS spike was called ‘in’ by the referee to allow SQS to lead at 6-5. However, YTS spiked a convincing ball to tie at 6-6.

A ‘free ball’ was unfortunately hit out of bounds by SQS to give YTS a point. Consecutive spikes from the YTS #4 eventually managed to bring the score to 13-11 in favour of SQS. However, SQS were not to be beaten easily. A ‘dunk’ from the SQS setter nearly fooled the YTS players but it was successfully rescued and returned back to the SQS side. SQS spiker #6 then finished off the point with a drop shot to bring his team to game point at 14-11. The last point was won when Henry (#7, SQS) spiked a ball home to win the set 15-11.

Final score: 2-1 (24-26, 25-11, 15-11)

Shuqun progressed into the final to meet powerhouse St. Hilda’s Secondary. However, they could not overcome St. Hilda’s and finished second in the championship.

More pictures in the gallery.

Editor's note: If you recognise yourself or your teammates, or if we've got the names wrong, let us know and we'll update the captions. Thanks.