IT HAD been a long time coming, but Jersey have finally turned the corner at inter-insular level and can now regard themselves as the dominant force. Although the Sarnians retained the prestigious men’s A trophy, Jersey won everything else, including the women’s A match for the first time in 25 years.
In a little under two hours, they Guernsey pushed them to the full five sets, losing 15-8 in the decider.
The opening set was very close, Guernsey only pulling away midway through on the back of some strong serving from Carla Martel.
Generally, though, some solid defensive work and powerful attacking by all members of the team saw them hold sway.
Guernsey took an early 5-0 lead in the second on the back of Karen Archenoul’s serving, but a run of unforced errors frittered that lead away and they were soon on the back foot.
At 14-8 down coach Darren Lynch called a time-out and Guernsey came out fighting from this, soon pulling level at 14-all.
But the recovery seemed to be in vain when a lack of concentration combined with some harsh refereeing decisions left Guernsey trailing again.
Another time-out and some killer hits by Martel and Lize-Mari Theron put Guernsey back in it and with dogged determination they sneaked the set from under Jersey’s noses.
Jersey came out the stronger team in the third and were all over Guernsey from the start.
Ann Saunders’ serving gave Jersey all sorts of problems midway through the set, but it was not enough.
Guernsey’s spikers were still pounding the Jersey defence, but gave the ball away with silly errors and, despite a late surge, Jersey took the set.
Jersey raced away again at the start of the fourth, won it and forced a decider in which Guernsey moved into a 5-1 lead forcing an early time-out by the Jersey coach.
But from 7-8 down Guernsey hit a brick wall, lost their shape and no matter what they tried nothing seemed to work.
Lynch called a time-out at 8-14, but it was in vain as Saunders, who had not really put a foot wrong all day, put her spike long and Jersey were celebrating a much awaited win.
The men’s A was always going to be a tight match and so it proved.
The start of the match was slow as both teams settled into their rhythm, but Guernsey showed some good basic volleyball with Troy Bodie and Dave Chapman spiking well.
Guernsey soon realised what they were up against when Romanian national player Daniel Grigoras started powering down his huge spikes.
But they worked hard and although Jersey edged back into it, Guernsey held their nerve and a fast ball from Rod Elmy to Marty Baker secured the first set.
Jersey stole the next and the next two were shared to force the second fifth set decider of the day.
Ultimately, a Dave Chapman spike sealed the victory for the Guernsey team ensuring that they returned home with one trophy from their travels.
The two B team matches were won comfortably by the Jersey sides.
Article posted on 1st May, 2007 - 12.00am
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