B Division Girls’ Volleyball: Jurong defeat Cedar to keep semi-final hopes alive

By Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

Presbyterian High School, Thursday, March 24, 2011 — Jurong Secondary shook off the memories of their unfortunate loss in their previous match to revive their hopes of qualifying for the National B Division Girls’ Volleyball Championship semi-finals when they held on to beat Cedar Girls’ Secondary 2-1 (25-15, 17-25, 25-18) in their Group X, Round Two match.

Lim Zi Qing (Jurong #8) started the match by taking the first point for Jurong with a spike from the centre. Cedar managed to keep the score close for the first few points, sending several strong spikes into Jurong’s court. Jurong libero Quifeng (#3) and subset Shandy (#5) made several saves to keep the rallies going. Jurong however managed to break free from the stalemate and pulled ahead.

Fronted by Rachel Lau (Jurong #12), Jurong pounded the Cedar defense to rake in point after point. In the first set alone, Rachel had 10 kills with only one unforced error. Cedar had no answer to the Jurong attack and subsequently conceded 15-25 to Jurong.

The second set saw a sudden Cedar revival. Four consecutive service aces from setter Maureen Han (Cedar #3) helped to propel Cedar to a 9-0 lead. Cedar’s onslaught was finally brought to a halt when Maureen’s serve went out of bounds. Jurong subsequently tried to catch up but were constantly left trailing.

Despite Jurong narrowing the score gap to four points, they never really recovered from their shaky start. Midway, Jurong stumbled to allow Cedar to run off to lead 23-16. Cedar subsequently sealed the set after two spiking errors by Jurong.

Mistakes by Jurong in the third set allowed Cedar to start off with an advantage. However, they quickly recovered to close in on Cedar. At the changeover, Cedar were leading 13-11, but they soon saw their lead nullified as Jurong leveled the score at 13-13. Jurong then turned the tables on Cedar as they stole the lead via a drop shot from Zi Qing (Jurong #8).

Jurong continued with their new found momentum to pull ahead. A timeout by Cedar at the 16-13 mark was not able to break Jurong’s tempo, and the latter soon found themselves leading 23-17 after a spike by Gu Ting (Cedar #6) went out. A failed block by Cedar subsequently saw Jurong take match point. Despite a kill by Charissa Beh (Cedar #7) in the next rally, Jurong took home the match after Cedar’s serve went into the net.

Rachel (Jurong #12) was the top scorer in the match with 17 kills. The Jurong team put up a total of 37 kills, with Zi Qing (#8) contributing nine kills and Li Bing (#9) with 11. The Cedar team on the other hand were limited to 21 kills but they managed to score several points with their serves, dishing out 10 service aces.

After this match, both Jurong and Cedar have one win and one loss each. Their next match will be of utmost importance as whoever wins will subsequently progress into the semi-finals. Jurong will play Shuqun Secondary while Cedar will play Ngee Ann Secondary.

Final Score
Jurong 2 Cedar 1
25-15, 17-25, 25-18

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