Story by REDintern Alethia Tiang. Pictures by Koh Yizhe, Marvin Lowe/Red Sports. Video by Lai Jun Wei.
Xinmin #13 Deepak Rai spikes. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall, Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - Seven-time champions since 1998, St. Hilda's Secondary School continued their National B Division Volleyball Championship reign for the third running year with their 3-1 (17-25, 25-14, 25-16, 25-15) triumph over Xinmin Secondary.
With their C Division boys’ victory the day before, the Xinmin B Division boys were looking to do a double.
St. Hilda's Sng Seng Whye (#11) spiked the ball into Xinmin's court to win their first point but as the game continued, both teams took turns to lead the set. It was Xinmin that eventually won the first set 25-17 to go up 1-0 overall.
A fierce spike by captain Benjamin Choo (#7) of St. Hilda's set off a run of seven consecutive points without reply from Xinmin. St. Hilda’s wrapped up the second set 25-14 to even it at 1-1.
A controversy in the third set over whether the ball spiked by Gilbert of Xinmin was in or out of bounds was eventually ruled in favour of St. Hilda’s. Frustrated, Xinmin lost three consecutive points.
However, Xinmin hauled themselves back from 2-8 to 10-14 but St. Hilda's stopped the rot and a final point scored by Kevin Chua (St. Hilda's, #3), wrapped it up 25-16 for a 2-1 overall lead.
With just one more set to wrap up the championship, St. Hilda's gained more confidence. Benjamin Choo won the first point against Xinmin but he got an immediate reply from Xinmin's Gilbert Toh who spiked past the block set up by St. Hilda's Cheong Hai Jing (#6) and Benjamin Choo. It was a tug-of-war with both teams trading points.
Then a sweaty spot on court proved Xinmin’s undoing. One of their players slipped and missed the ball with the score tied at 9-9. This gave St. Hilda's a 10-9 lead and they pulled further ahead to 15-11. With the momentum firmly in their favour now and they soon wrapped it up 25-15 to secure their third championship title in a row.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfmtAf-fqDI
Can you reply? Pls?
I’m not the NAS sarah. Sarah isn’t my real name. Its my nickname. …. You know andy? Are you his teammate of something??
Yeah, i wanna know him. I cant reveal
My school but i play vb too. (:
hmm..u want to know him is it?which sch are you frm?u play vball too?
…. do u knw andy personally?
haha. nothing, just asking. he’s cute. haha.
Where is the video???
xinmin no.8 is andy.why?
What is xinmim b boys number 8’s name??
10th photo counting from bottom, Jordan Toh, #1 of St. Hilda’s smashes a spike past the Xinmin blocker.
its Sng Seng Whye #11 of St. Hilda’s not Jordan
thanks for letting us know. the change has been made. please do feel free to correct us if the photo has been captioned wrongly. thanks! =)
i don’t think st hilda’s #11 is NG ZI HAO.(refering to photo 21). i am ng zi hao and i am xinmin#11.
many of the pictures have wrong captions, either the player’s name has been mixed up or their expressions have not been interpreted correctly.
Feel free to let us know the correct names then.
hey marvin, nice to see another marvin around!hahahaha.=p A few of the St Hilda’s players did shed tears of joy lah…from what i understand, it’s their last game for St Hilda’s, so it’s a really emotional moment for them. Real man do cry ok.=p
hi all! the video will be up soon. thanks for all your comments!
marvin, benjamin teared. and human beings perspire not sweat 😀
Hi, on top of the page says video by jun wei. May i know where is it? Anyway, GOOD JOB St Hildas! Xin min good job also!
in picture 7, its not number 7 who bumps the ball up. i think its 1.
#3. Your face is a ball magnet 😀
that guy was just wiping sweat off his face umm not so much tearing.