The Junior SVL U16 season has been an exciting one so far with a record 15 teams competing across the country.
The season is edging towards the ‘business end’ where teams looking to win the Junior SVL or make the Scottish Cup Final battle for every point to achieve their goal. At the same time many other teams battle for every point in order to improve, compete and win their individual battles. The blend of competition, development, joint working & positive atmosphere is the reason the Junior SVL is such a special environment to play in.
There has been some great landmarks already so far: Lorn (Oban) hostied their first ever junior matches, six of the seven new teams have won matches, 9 matches have went to tie breaks, and over seventy new junior officials putting their new skills to the test on the volleyball court!
THE BOYS:
In teh last round of fixtures, James Gillespie’s NUVOC took their first Junior SVL victory in an epic encounter with Perth & Kinross winning 15-13 in the tie-break. In the other matches hosted in Kinross, Beacon Blaze overcame both teams to take their win loss ratio to 4&2, impressive in their debut season in the U16 Junior SVL.
City of Edinburgh managed to maintain their 100% record at Cavalry Park NUVOC in the other round in the boy’s competition. The day ended with another epic match which resulted in a tie-break victory for City against hosts Cavalry Park NUVOC. The bonus point from NUVOC, however, places them as favourites to go into the Junior Scottish Cup as 2nd seeds, but there is still a lot of volleyball still to be played. Lorn were unable to back-up their first ever Junior Volleyball victory last time around but put in some great performances against the division’s current top two sides.
This Sunday sees no fewer than 5 matches taking place at Queensferry HS in what should be a cracking day of Junior volleyball.
THE GIRLS:
Aberdeen Grammar had three teams all playing on the same day, but the biggest drama was with the teams that travelled to Ayrshire, where Aberdeen A took the first set against Marr College A 25-23, which was the first set dropped by Marr’s U16 since January 2015. Marr College battled back to take control of the match and won the tie-break 15-5. City of Edinburgh kept up the pressure on Marr College at the top of the league by beating AGS B and AGS C in Aberdeen.
This weekend’s fixtures see City of Edinburgh travel to South Ayrshire to play Marr College for the first time this season with a one point lead in the table for what will surely be an exciting game. South Ayrshire will be looking to build for the future in their matches against both Marr College teams. Marr College B sit just one point behind Aberdeen Grammar and will be looking for victories to keep their hopes of making the top three split alive.
In the other round taking place in Aberdeen, 5th – 8th in the table all take to the court with any of the four sides, Aberdeen B, Aberdeen C, City of Edinburgh B & Cavalry Park NUVOC still able to finish in either the middle 3 split or the bottom three split. It is sure to be a very competitive day!
All the best to all junior teams this weekend, a total of 13 matches taking place across Ayrshire, Edinburgh & Aberdeen!
Come Join us at the Lynch Centre in Dundee on Sunday 26th March 2017 to see all these teams in action at the U16 Scottish Cup Tournament!