A preview of the 2009 Inter-School B Division Volleyball Championship (Girls)

By Lai Jun Wei

Volleyball teams have been gearing up for next year's Inter-School B Division Volleyball Championships with the recently concluded U-16 Volleyball Championship giving a sneak preview of who some of the strongest teams are.

We did a poll to see which schools are likely to be the Big Four schools for the B Division Volleyball Championship and the results were not surprising. Here’s my analysis based on my observations of the recent U-16 championship. If you have your version, please do feel free to send in your predictions for next season. 🙂

Girls

In the girls' category, Presbyterian High look set to dominate the B Division and win hands down. They are able to deliver thunderous attacks with their spikers Dorita (#3) and Yiting (#5). They are lethal on the centre attack and considerably strong with their attacks from the outside.

Setter Cassandra (#7) is able to find her mark and create many scoring opportunities for her teammates. Dorita's (#3) backcourt spike is as powerful as the front court spikes from other teams. Their libero Shiling (#13) is also likely to be able to take anything thrown at her.

While they may have brought over some of the Secondary Twos who may be relatively inexperienced for the B Division, I don't forsee any difficulty for Presbyterian High to emerge as champions again as their strengths considerably outweigh their weaknesses.

The other three positions in the top four might see a five-way fight between Ngee Ann Secondary, Jurong Secondary, Shuqun Secondary, Dunman Secondary and Cedar Girls' Secondary. Ngee Ann have built up on their current team and worked on their tactics to build a formidable force. While they might have a few fresh faces filling in the positions vacated the graduates, they see no drop in playing standards.

Spikers Lyvia (#10), Phebe (#13) and Carolyn (#12) have no problems bringing on the attacks while their centres are not able to stuff out their opponents' attacks.

They also have a credible defence, with the players showing no fear in diving to rescue stray balls. If everything goes their way, we might just see them play Presbyterian High in the final.

Jurong Secondary, having seen some of their strongest players graduate, have some fresh faces adapting to the B Division. While they have no shortage of players to fill in the gaps, there are not as credible a force as last year.

They will definitely miss centre Qihui who graduated this year. Krystal (#8) remains the first choice setter for the team, and they have seen an increase in attacks coming from the outside rather than from the centre.

But centres Siew Hoon (#7) and Cheryl (#11) are still able to deliver, scoring points with their accurate spikes.

With just a short period of time left before the commencement of the B Division, Jurong Secondary would need to settle in quick, and should have no problems securing their place in the final four if all goes their way.

Shuqun Secondary are the most unpredictable of the lot. While they are a credible force, they stumbled at the U-16 Volleyball Championship, failing to hold out till the end of their matches.

With centre Loh Yanqi having graduated, the team has taken slight a dent in their play. But Shuqun is quick to find replacements to fill in the gap, and they have no problems with their attacks.

Left-handed spiker Lou Zouyi (#8) is consistent in her attacks and is able to rake up points for the team. The only downside is that her position as the opposite spiker sees her opportunities to score reduced as out of convenience, many balls are set towards the outside position or centre. But still, she shows her prowess with firm blocking and a steady serve.

Setter Sasha Sabrina (#5) is by far one of the more reliable players on the team. The nimble setter's sets are able to find her intended target, and she packs a punch with her jump float serves.

Her agility sees her doubling up as a backcourt spiker when needed, and her speed proves useful as she constantly dives to rescue stray balls. While her slight disadvantage in height means that she is unable to execute lethal drop shots, she more than makes up for it with her strengths in other areas.

Not only that, she is able to jump and tap over balls while in the attack zone as a backcourt player without being fouled for an illegal contact.

Dunman Secondary will certainly be able to make it far in next year's B Division if they can step up their game. With their towering centre Chan Jia En (#2), they have the capability to stuff out attacks.

Not only that, spiker Weiyu (#1) has seen an improvement in her attacks and she is able to thunder shots into the opponent's court. Dunman should be able to put up a threat to the other teams if they make it into the quarter-finals.

Much is unknown about Cedar Girls’ Secondary as they did not feature in this year's U-16 Volleyball. But with Cedar Girls’ clinching the C Division championship title this year, they will see several of their C Division team players moving on to the B Division.

Cedar seems to have added firepower especially with towering centre Joan (#18) able to put up a daunting block.

Nanyang Girls' High is also one team whose performance is relatively unknown after sitting out the U-16 Volleyball Championship.

They had an awful B Division season this year, crashing out early in the zonal rounds. The team has not lost any of their starting six with almost all the players made up entirely of Secondary Threes this year.

With several of the C Division players who performed well in this year's championship moving up to B Division next year, they might just stand a chance at entering the nationals. But whether they progress any further from there remains to be seen.

Yuying Secondary must also deserve some credit for their outstanding performance at the U-16 Volleyball Championship this year. While many might not have expected them to progress far, they proved everyone wrong when they powered their way into Round Two, and were serious contenders for a semi-final spot. Bad luck saw them miss out after they lost out on a count back.

With centre Sophia (#18) able to dominate the front court and spiker Aisyah (#13) able to deliver when called upon, the team should have no lack in firepower.

Their Achilles’ heel might be their defensive work and perseverance. Yuying need to hold out to the end of long sets and rallies without losing steam. They certainly can perform in the South Zone and have no problems making it into the Nationals. But whether they are able to progress on would be decided by their ability to maintain consistency and keep up pressure on their opponents to steal the set.

Likely Top Four (in no particular order): Presbyterian High, Ngee Ann Secondary, Jurong Secondary, Cedar Girls' Secondary/Shuqun Secondary

Editor’s note: Want to submit your own take on next year’s B Division? Send it to us here. 🙂

Related post: A preview of next year's B Division Volleyball (Boys)

REDpoll

The results of a reader poll done earlier.

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