Xinmin beat Shuqun in close game

VOLLEYBALL

National Junior U-16 Girls Volleyball Championship 2007, Round 2
Xinmin Secondary vs Shuqun Secondary
Tuesday, 11th November 2007 at Hougang Sports Hall

Pictures and Story by Red Sports volunteer Lai Jun Wei.

Xinmin vs Shuqun

XMS’ centre spiker(#7) spikes into the SQS block. © Lai Jun Wei

Xinmin Secondary (XMS) beat Shuqun Secondary (SQS) 2-0 (25-18, 25-21) in Round 2 of the National U-16 Girls Volleyball Championship.

During warm-up, no one could guess what the outcome was as both teams had players who could execute well-hit spikes. In the first set, SQS clearly seemed like the stronger team with their fierce spikes and well placed drop shots. However, XMS showed excellent defensive work and managed to rescue several shots. Even if it meant giving SQS a ‘free-ball’, the XMS players put in their best to defend against the SQS attack. Somehow or rather, XMS managed to pull ahead in the score and took the first set 25-18.

The second set saw SQS step up their attack. Most of the game had SQS making the attacks. However like the first set, XMS’s defensive work proved to be strong as they managed to pick up several strong spikes. The XMS libero and other players dived to rescue stray balls which allowed them to organise attacks against SQS. After a few mistakes made my SQS, XMS took the lead and extended it with excellent playwork. A time out by the SQS coach in the last few minutes of the game saw SQS put up a tremendous fight back. But it was not enough to prevent XMS from taking the second set 25-21.

Undeniably, SQS’s attacks were very strong. However, XMS’s defence was clearly strong to could last the constant attacks by SQS. Nevertheless, it was a well played game by both teams.

Final score: 2-0 (25-18, 25-21)

Xinmin vs Shuqun