THE GVA Juniors emphatically regained the inter-insular title at Beau Sejour on Saturday in straight sets. Having lost last year’s encounter for the first time since the competition started, the team was keen to redress the issue.
Both islands introduced new blood to the event, with five players making their debut.
Each showed their worth during the game, particularly Jersey’s Chris de la Rue, just 12.
With Guernsey coach Peter Walden unavailable, Derek Cave stood in to lead the Guernsey team and his pre-match confidence was justified during the first set, as GVA Juniors took an early lead thanks to debutant Emily Kimber.
This forced Jersey coach Adamson to take his first time-out with the score at 1-7.
They called another at 5-19 which prompted a brief rally, but when Will Bodkin came to the service line at 21-8, his powerful serves proved too much for Jersey and he closed the set.
The team talk between sets must have been pretty special for the Jersey players.
Although Guernsey pulled away to a 5-2 lead, Jersey stayed within three points and play was very even.
Suddenly, the consistency previously shown by the Guernsey team waivered, with hits going wide or in the net.
The teams traded points from 11-11 to 15-15 and on Natasha de Jesus’s serve the visitors opened a small lead forcing Guernsey to call a timeout at 20-22 down.
Jersey captain Matt Le Marquand, who had a great game, produced a powerful spike to win the point immediately following the timeout, but the following serve found the net.
Jersey were unable to return serve and allowed Guernsey to pull back to 24-all at which point Paul Cave again rose at the net to produce a decisive winner in the centre of the Jersey court.
A Jersey timeout looked as if it might do the trick as the next rally saw the ball fly back and forth with great play from both teams, but it was James Bodkin who sealed the set, finding the baseline with a controlled spike.
Another testing serving spell from Kimber, backed up by excellent court cover from Gemma Nicolle and Paul Cave, gave the Sarnians a healthy start in the third set.
Both teams showed some excellent skills in this set, with cleverly disguised dumps from Will Bodkin and solid three-touch volleyball set up by great digging.
On the verge of defeat at 15-24 Jersey called one more timeout, but it made no difference and an unfortunate net touch gave Guernsey their last point.
Article posted on 25th September, 2007 - 12.00am
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