Yishun Town overcome Shuqun Secondary 3-2 to enter U-16 boys volleyball final

Story contributed by reader Eileen Tan. Photos contributed by reader Claira Ng and Joan Mak.

Hougang Sports Hall, Thursday, 13 November, 2008 – Yishun Town Secondary beat Shuqun Secondary 3-2 (25-22, 29-27, 25-27, 13-25, 15-12) in a semi-final of the 2008 National U-16 Boys Junior Volleyball Championship.

The first set started off with Shuqun taking an early lead. Coupled with some errors by the Yishun Town team, they were able to pull ahead to 10-5.

Shuqun's open spiker Lawrence Tan (Shuqun, #4) scored several points with his thunderous spikes, often leaving the Yishun Town players helpless. Yishun Town had a brief moment to catch up but Lawrence (Shuqun, #4) silenced any attempt by them.

However, like in many of their previous matches, Shuqun squandered their lead as their blockers could not cope with the Yishun Town spikers.
This allowed Yishun Town to inch closer to Shuqun and eventually overtake them at 23-22. Yishun Town then wrapped up the set when Yuchao (Yishun Town, #2) stuffed out a ball by Lawrence (Shuqun, #4).

The second set started off with a service ace by Shuqun. But they gave back Yishun Town the service when the Shuqun #11 committed a net touch during a fake spike. Yishun Town took a slender lead at 11-9, but saw it erode to nothing when Esmond (Yishun Town, #7) spiked into the net.

Both teams were neck and neck as they progressed towards the 25-point mark. Tied at 23-23 and all their timeouts exhausted, it was up to the players to determine the outcome.

Shuqun went up to the match point, but Junze (Yishun Town, #1) spiked a ball into an undefended space to bring the set to a deuce. Both teams continued to force the game back into a deuce anytime the other was at match point.

However, a point was awarded to Yishun Town at a crucial moment when the Shuqun made a rotation error. After a very close fight, Yishun Town won another set at 29-27 when Esmond (Yishun Town, #7) successfully spiked a ball between the Shuqun blockers.

Yishun Town were looking to win the match quickly by capturing the third set but Shuqun stepped up to the challenge and pressured Yishun Town. Lawrence (Shuqun, #4) formed the backbone of the attacks for this set, adding points to the score tally to lead his team against Yishun Town.

Though Yishun Town managed to win a few points, they still trailed Shuqun by a few points. They never game up, and managed to reach set point when Junze (Yishun Town, #1) spiked the ball gently over, which caught the Shuqun libero by surprise and unable to receive.

With the score at 24-23, Yishun Town were poised to take the game but Shuqun came back with a last minute surge that saw them win 27-25.

With the momentum on their side, Shuqunstormed off to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set. Yishun Town simply made too many mistakes, which allowed Shuqun to extend their lead further.

Lawrence (Shuqun, #4) made his spikes count, with everyone in Yishun Town unable to retrieve his shots, and Shuqun soon had an 11-point lead at 12-1. Yishun Town looked like they had given up hope when both Yuchao (#2) and their #18 spiked out of the court in two separate attempts.

Unexpectedly, Yishun Town slowly steadily gained the next few points with their spikers Ernest (#12) and Junze (#1) spiking perfectly into unguarded space. Would Shuqun squander away their lead again just like in the first set? However, Shuqun broke that curse and spiked three balls consecutively which nobody in Yishun Town could return to take the fourth set 27-25.

With the game at 2-2, the last and crucial set would determine who would enter the final. With St. Hilda's likely the other team in the final, all eyes were on this match to see if it would be a replay of last year's U-16 final and this year's B Division Championship final where Shuqun took on St Hilda's.

Yishun Town took the lead early in the set when they successfully gained three points with quick balls from their Esmond (#7) and Yuchao (#2). Yishun Town were putting on their best performance in this match, and the only way for Shuqun to win was to wait for their opponents to commit a mistake.

It wasn't too long before Ernest (Yishun Town, #12) was deemed to have committed a double at 11-9. At At the 12-10 mark, Esmond (Yishun Town, #7) also committed another double, but he redeemed himself with a spike that went straight down into the Shuqun’s court with no one blocking him.

Shuqun were not giving up despite trailing but it wasn't long before Yishun Town were at match point when Shuqun committed a net touch while attempting to block the Yishun Town spiker.

Esmond (Yishun Town, #7) then wrapped up the set and match when he spiked a wipeout ball into the hands of the Shuqun blocker that went out.

Final score: 3-2 (25-22, 29-27, 25-27, 13-25, 15-12)

Yishun Town now plays St. Hilda's Secondary on Sunday, 16 November, 3.45pm at Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall.

Shuqun on the other hand, will just have to wait for next year in order to take their revenge against St Hilda's for denying them two volleyball titles. They will play Xinmin Secondary in the 3rd/4th place match at 2pm on the same day as the final.

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!