Hua Yi Secondary, Monday February 6, 2012 — River Valley High finished their West Zone B Division Boys’ Volleyball Championship on a high note after beating Zhenghua Secondary 2-0 (25-18, 25-22) in their final group game.

Both schools’ hopes of reaching the top four of the championship had prematurely ended after they had previously suffered losses to traditional favourites Bukit Panjang Government High and Clementi Town Secondary. Therefore, this game was a dead rubber. However, it did not fail to bring in any sort of entertainment.

In the first set, River Valley started very strongly, and after several mistakes committed by the Zhenghua players, they raced into a 17-2 lead. For the first time in the entire championship, Zhenghua looked lost and clueless, while River Valley looked composed and organized.

However, Zhenghua managed to claw their way back into the set after River Valley’s spikers #2, #5 and #7 made attacking errors. But it proved to be too little, too late and at the critical moment, a Zhenghua player served into the net and River Valley managed to hold on to their lead to win the first set 25-18.

The second set, unlike the first, was a close-run thing right from the start. Zhenghua started the set brightly, forcing the error from the River Valley player to take the lead. But River Valley wasted no time in responding and with crucial spikes from their #2, together with their strong blocking, quickly got the score back on level terms.

Then, Zhenghua brought on their #7, who made an immediate impact, scoring the next two points and giving Zhenghua a 10-8 lead. Yet again, River Valley came back to score the two points which equalized the score again.

After a nervy see-saw battle midway through the set, the teams were locked at 20-20. River Valley then picked up the pace and after errors from the Zhenghua team, they found themselves holding two match points.

Then came possibly one of the best rallies in the championship. After several exchanges of attacks from both sides, River Valley’s center spiker #7 went for the quick ball and successfully spiked down onto the 3-metre line. It was the coolest of finishes to a highly entertaining match, which River Valley ran out 25-18, 25-22 winners.