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South West Volleyball Association
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Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Classic 2010
WESSEX JUNIORS STEAL THE SHOW!
A fabulous weekend of junior volleyball on Sandbanks Beach, Poole, was a runaway success for our teams. The weather on the Saturday and Sunday got better as the sun came out late each morning and stayed with us for the rest of the day and Wessex Volleyball shone equally brightly on both days! The Club dominated the junior competitions in an unprecedented manner, winning 6 of the main 8 competitions, including a clean sweep of the boys’ events. The Classic is the biggest and most prestigious domestic beach volleyball event in Great Britain as it doubles as the British Beach Volleyball Championships. It is also the premier event for the South West Junior Beach Volleyball Tour. Under 18 Girls The final was very exciting with both teams playing some excellent volleyball. The first set looked like it was going the way of the Newcastle-under-Lyme girls until 4 consecutive winning serves from Annie sealed the set in favour of the home team. Undaunted, Megan & CJ raced into a second set lead and this time they held it all through the set, thanks to some timely defence and placing constant pressure on the favourites. The deciding set was neck and neck all the way through to the very last point as Paige’s well placed hits and Annie’s intelligent shots came to the fore against resilient opponents. All the girls were very tired after a long weekend of intense volleyball but Paige & Annie just held out to win the final point as Megan served the ball out of bounds to hand the local girls the set, the match and the British Under 18 Championship.
Five young Wessex teams entered the Under 18 girls Div 2 competition in the hope of another day of good volleyball and taking the opportunity to gain more experience on the beach. Having performed well in the previous day’s Under 16 event, Georgia Littlefair & Katie Nickless went one better in the Under 18 Div 2 with a 3rd place. The final saw two Wessex teams facing each other. Under 16 Div 1 runners-up Megan Cheaney & Vicky Olive were hoping to win a notable scalp against the older pairing of Hannah Ridge and Emily Singleton. Again a late finish meant the girls were tired and pulled out all the stops to put on a tense and exciting match. At one set all, they had everything to play for in the third and final set. A timely return to form by Hannah, having been frustrated by Megan and Vicky’s excellent serving in the earlier sets, helped her and Emily re-gain a psychological advantage over the younger girls. The set was tight but Hannah & Emily won through to take the Div 2 title. Under 18 BoysHaving played successfully in the Under 16 competition with Matt Hunter on the first day of the Festival, Ryan Stout was back with his long-term team-mate Aiden Lewis from Cardiff for the Under 18 event, which they had won last year. Matt Hunter & Joe Lambe were out to challenge Aiden & Ryan’s dominance and a number of other teams were also looking for an upset, including Aaron Walrond, playing with a new partner Olly Evans from Bristol and Sam Pitcher & Richard Yates, the latter having recently returned from a successful Beach Volleyball High Peaks training camp in Croyde, North Devon. As with the Under 16 competition on the Saturday, the spectators were witness to some high quality play, particularly by the Wessex teams as they fought to win through to the semi finals against each other and against good teams from Newcastle-under-Lyme, London and other locations around the country. As anticipated, Aiden & Ryan and Matt & Joe reached the semi-finals and won them to set up a meeting of the favourite pairs in the final. Ryan’s jump serves, control of the volleyball and well-placed shots had caused opposing teams all manner of problems and Aiden complemented him well with consistent defending, passing and setting. With both Matt and Joe being strong passer and hitters it was difficult for their opponents to know how to beat them with their serves and the Wessex boys proved too good and too consistent to lose games. The final was a very exciting match, with both teams working hard to gain the upper hand. Ultimately, Aiden & Ryan’s partnership and experience were too much for Matt & Joe. A number of unforced errors sealed their fate leaving a disappointed Matt & Joe to rue missed opportunities as Aiden & Ryan retained their British Under 18s crown.
Under 16 Girls
With so many teams entered, including other strong teams from Newcastle-under-Lyme and Devizes, the matches were hard fought with a number of close results. Powerful and accurate serving from Megan, coupled with tenacity around the court form her partner Vicky saw them through to a place in the final. Some of the teams struggled to get to grips with the beach volleyball rules and the experience of the local teams shone through as they filled 5 of the top 6 positions. Georgia and Katie finished in a very creditable 4th place having played consistently throughout the day and just losing out to a couple of stronger opponents. Emma and Alice were not the tallest team but their speed and aggression in defence and attack resulted in some excellent victories and a place in the final against Megan and Vicky. The final was a close-fought affair with Megan’s serving and hitting causing problems for Emma and Alice early on. However Emma had been training hard with Lewie Lett and a number of the Wessex Under 14 and Under 16 boys and she wasn’t going to give up without a fight. In the end, her superior skills and Alice’s determination saw them through to a well-earned victory.
Under 16 Boys Some excellent games were played, with the experience and skills of the Wessex teams outshining the opposition. Favourites Matt & Ryan were relatively untroubled during the pool matches, though a number of unforced errors gave their opponents fleeting hopes of possible upsets. Jack & Andrew, Ryan & Jordan and Tom & Aaron were also much too strong for the opposition, playing some exciting rallies, with Jack, Ryan and Aaron excelling in defence, working hard for their partners and causing frustration for the other teams. Ultimately both semi-finals were all-Wessex events with Matt & Ryan taking on Ryan & Jordan and Jack & Andrew pitched against Aaron & Tom. The first semi-final was very hard fought with Ryan & Jordan battling to put Matt & Ryan under pressure. The quality of Ryan Stout’s play and the combined ability of 2 of the best volleyball players for their age in the country proved decisive, leaving Ryan & Jordan to contend for 3rd place against the losers of the other semi-final. Intelligent serving from the experienced pairing of Tom & Aaron prevented Jack & Andrew from getting into their stride and despite Andrew’s best efforts to convert Jack’s defensive saves into points with strong hitting; Tom & Aaron ran out comfortable winners. Ryan & Jordan won the 3rd place play-off against Jack & Andrew and all eyes were then on the final. Matt & Ryan and Tom & Aaron had contested the final of the South West Junior Beach Tour event at Boscombe earlier in the season, and the latter were keen to avenge their defeat. Another exciting match with a lot of skilful volleyball, especially from Matt & Ryan saw the favourites win through and become the 2010 British Champions, although Aaron & Tom’s hard work in training had helped them cope better with Ryan’s huge variety of shots.
Under 14 Girls Rob and Lyle’s hard work in training with Lewie Lett paid off and they did very well to win 5th place through focussed play, good planning and communication and excellent team-play. This was Sam Allen’s first beach volleyball tournament after only a few training sessions and the improvement in his play throughout the day was noticeable. He defended particularly well; retrieving the ball on many an occasion when it looked like the point was lost. Ben also played some good shots and had obviously gained experience from playing in the Under 16 competition on the Saturday, but this was the first time they had played together and despite being an inexperienced pairing, Sam and Ben acquitted themselves quite will in coming 6th. With the teams evenly matched the final was exciting to watch with points going one way and then another. Although both teams must have been feeling tired at the end of two days of volleyball the standard of play was still very high for young players of this age. It was the North Devon boys who took advantage of some missed serves from the Wessex boys who got to set point first at 20-16. Needing just one point it looked like the first set was going to Hartnoll and Lawson but the Wessex boys showed great character by refusing to give up. Sam put in four strong serves to bring the scores level at 20-20. Now the pressure was on – the next point would decide who won the first set. The serve went in and Sam and Joel won the rally to take the set. A great comeback ! The Wessex boys were now on a high and took a lead in the second set. Will and Haydn fought hard but just fell short at 21-16. Sam and Joel finished as Champions but all four players deserved credit for both their play and excellent sporting behaviour. In the meantime, Tom Chadbourne, Jordan Parkes and Harry Hicks represented Wessex in the Under 14s Div 2 event. In reality they are all Under 13s, so this was a good opportunity for them to pitch themselves against slightly older opponents. Unfortunately there weren’t many teams entered for the Div 2 event but the boys saw off the opposition with consistent serving and forcing them into making errors. Under 12 Girls Wessex’s British Beach Champions 2010:
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