Victoria School hold off Anderson to win 2-0 in U-16 volleyball

Story and photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Hougang Sports Hall, Saturday, November 1, 2008 – Despite a second set comeback attempt by Anderson Secondary, Victoria School managed to hold their opponents off to win 2-0 (25-8, 25-17) in a Group A Match at the 2008 National Under-16 Boys Junior Volleyball Championships.

Victoria managed to claim an early lead with their strong serves, which often left Anderson struggling to organise an attack with the Victoria #2 responsible for several points. Several balls were organised for Anderson #14 to try for an attack, but they were often not substantial enough and easily picked up by Victoria.

Victoria soon had a huge 19-point lead at 22-3. As Victoria inched closer to set point, their #4 spiked down the line from the outside past the Anderson blocker and into the deep left corner of Anderson’s court. However, it went out of bounds to give Anderson the service and an additional point to make it 4-22.

The serve by the Anderson #4 was then easily picked up by Victoria, but a failed attempt at a fast ball saw it go harmlessly over to Anderson’s side. Anderson #10 spiked hard into the Victoria libero, who returned the ball right into the net to make it 5-22.

The next point was again won by Anderson when the Victoria setter was fouled for allegedly reaching over the net to touch the ball. 6-22.

A failed quick ball by the Victoria #12 saw Anderson add another point to 7-23. Anderson #17 then did an excellent drop shot to win another point. 8-23.

With momentum against them, Victoria called for a time-out in a last minute effort to stop Anderson from scoring more points. Upon resumption, the Victoria #12 hit a thunderous spike from the middle right to the back end of the court to bring the game to a set point at 24-8.

After a long rally in the fight for the last point, the Victoria #14 spiked from the outside and Anderson failed to rescue to yield the set 25-8.

Anderson’s setter gifted Victoria the first point of the second set when his attempt to send the ball to the outside spiker saw it go across the net and out of bounds. The second point was won when Anderson stumbled on their passing and saw the ball fail to cross the net.

A strong serve by Victoria saw the Anderson #14 receive the ball badly. The Anderson setter desperately tried to rescue the ball with a flick of his foot. It was successfully retrieved, but he was fouled for crossing over the centre line.

The match continued on steadily, with many long rallies and close shots. At the 13-9 mark, Victoria committed a position fault, giving Anderson a point to make it 10-13.

Anderson had many good balls and fought hard to catch up in this set but Victoria still managed to maintain their lead. Victoria won won their last point when Anderson could not receive the ball properly and deflected it out.

Final score: 2-0 (25-8, 25-17)

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in any of the photos, please feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!