Volleyball: New Forest U16s win Junior Grand Prix event at Cams Hill School
NEW Forest Volleyball’s U16 boys team’s fantastic season continued as they claimed their second tournament win.
It was a commanding performance in the Junior Grand Prix event at Cams Hill School.
Their first match against Wessex was incredibly close, with neither team managing to get more than a point ahead of their opponents. A great cross-court spike from outside hitter Myles Southworth and two strong aces from opposite Dan Reakes meant they edged into a slender lead. Another Southworth spike won the first set 21-18.
The second set looked to be going Wessex’s way as some strong serving from the opposition saw them rush into a 4-10 lead. Some incredible blocking from middle Alex Hancock saw Forest finally regain the serve and they quickly capitalised to get back into the game. Cheered on by stand-in coach and captain Max Broomfield, who was unable to play due to a recent rugby concussion, the comeback was completed with Thomas Hales serving them to a 21-14 set victory and a 2-0 match win overall.
The second match against Spelthorne was similarly close – to start with. A run of quality aces from Finn Prior-Redman in the first set and then Dan Reakes in the second meant that Forest took the match 2-0 once again (21-18, 21-15).
This set up a tantalising decider against local rivals and hosts Cams Hill.
Cams Hill powered into an early lead with Forest initially struggling to contain their strong service game and some excellent spikes. The hosts eventually claimed the first set 16-21 with the winning point coming from a Forest foot fault.
The second set was a different story, however, and an outstanding run of aces and unreturned serves from setter Thomas Hale saw Forest motor into an astonishing early 10-0 lead. But Cams Hill weren’t about to let Forest run away with the set, and came back strongly. Forest went on to win the set, with two more unplayable shots from Myles Southworth and a fine save from outside hitter Kai Stillwell claiming the points for a 21-14 win.
With the two teams tied on one set each, it all came down to a final decider. Cams Hill edged an early lead, but a determined Forest came back yet again, with middle Alex Jones scoring a great hit along with yet another jaw-dropping block from Alex Hancock to take the game to 15-14 and their first match point!
A clever tip shot from outside hitter George White wrong-footed the Cams Hill blocker whose return spun out of bounds to see Forest win the final set 16-14 and the match by two sets to one.
It was a fitting deciding match to a quality tournament which saw some excellent play from all four teams involved.
