Scraping past Marian Academy in the most exciting match-up so far in the Demerara Volleyball Association’s (DVA) Inter-school championship, a well-oiled unit from St Roses High School, who turned in an unblemished performance in the Georgetown leg of the competition, walked away with top honours and earned themselves the top spot for the city teams heading into the regional finals.
Led by 6’4” Akil Vaughn, who once again put on a dominant performance, St Roses High School volleyball team treated their fans to the level of excitement fitting for the very boisterous home court crowd they were.
Wrapping up Wednesday’s play with a fighting 15-14 victory over Marion Academy and a dominant 25-8 victory over St Stanislaus College, the lads from St Roses completed the two-leg event unbeaten.
St Roses skipper receives the trophy from a representative of Indesco
Queens College, who booked the second spot in the finals, having only lost to the eventual winners, began their day by brushing aside Saints 25-10 before they too ran into Marian Academy, lead by their Brazilian star player, 16-year-old Alexandre de Paiva Almeida and had to pull out all their stops to eventually triumph by a narrow 17-14 margin.
Playing in what was the match to determine the final team to book a spot in the final, Marion Academy and Bishops High School entertained the spectators to a game with excitement fit to be a final.
Trading the lead on numerous occasions in the 10 minutes game, Marian Academy eventually booked the final spot practically in the last minute of play, despite a valiant effort from National Under-18 Table Tennis champion, Shemar Britton. Britton demonstrated that he is not only dominant on the tennis table, but also has a good understanding of volleyball and can become just as dominant given the right guidance.
In their other game of the day, Bishops, who barely missed a spot in the final, made light work of Guyana Trust College (GTC) by a 22-15 margin. GTC, who won their only game against St Stanislaus College by a 18-15 scoreline in a bottom-of-the-table match, wrapped up the day’s play with one win and one loss after failing to record any victories in the first leg of the tournament.
St Stanislaus College, who turned out to be the punching bag of the tournament, despite a much improved performance from the first leg of the tournament, ended without any wins, going down to Trust College and St Roses.
Aim high
At the presentation of awards and addresses by sponsors and hosts of the tournament, the representative from Indesco, who is the primary sponsor for the Georgetown leg, expressed her excitement with the level of commitment the players demonstrated and encouraged them to continue making strides to become better at the sport and possibly become national athletes.
General Secretary of the Guyana Volleyball Federation, Robert Millington, who spoke on behalf of the federation, shared the same sentiments, encouraging the students to stick to the game and one day they may see themselves representing Guyana at the international level.
He went on to speak of Guyana’s participation at the upcoming Under-19 and Under-23 South American Championships and urged them to set their eyes on possible selection to those teams.
President of the Demerara Volleyball Association, Trevor Williams, spared no effort in thanking the sponsors who made this tournament a reality and went on to tell the schools that his association intends to make them and school volleyball a focal point of his administration’s mandate.
Williams promised that in the near future the DVA will be rolling out a plan to assist schools with technical development through their Physical Education teachers, whom he also praised for the evident work they have put in to bring their students to the level they currently are.
He further explained to the students that coming out of this tournament, DVA will be selecting a Demerara school team to represent Demerara against Berbice on May 7 in the GVF’s Inter-county school championship.
At the end of the event, a list of about 18 players was shortlisted and will join with a selection from the West Side and Linden zones to compete for selection to the Demerara School Team.
This leg is sponsored by Indesco Trading, while the West zone was sponsored by Ancam Marine Supplies. Talk is Cheap Travel Agency is the sponsor for the Linden zone, which will serve off on Friday at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground. Digicel and the Guyana Volleyball Federation are also major sponsors for the tournament and the DVA wishes to extend special thanks to their efforts as they continue to foster good relationships for the development of volleyball in Demerara and Guyana at large.
