ST ROSE’S High, Queen’s College and Marian Academy are through to the regional finals following wins in the Georgetown leg of the Demerara Volleyball Association, inter-school championship on Wednesday. The unbeaten St Rose’s scraped past Marian Academy in the most exciting matchup in the tournament thanks to Akil Vaughn, who helped the side register a fighting 15-14 victory and a dominant 25-8 win over St Stanislaus College
Queen’s College, who booked the second spot in the finals having only lost to the eventual winners, began their day by brushing aside Saints 25-10 before they too ran into Marian Academy, who featured Brazilian star player, 16-year-old Alexandre de Paiva Almeida.
The QC side were made to work for their 17–14 win over the Marian side to take home the Digicel-sponsored second-place trophy.
Playing to determine the last team to book a spot in the finals, Marian Academy and Bishops’ High School entertained the spectators to a game with excitement fit to be a final.
Trading the lead on numerous occasions in the 10-minute timed game, Marian eventually booked the final spot practically in the last minute of play, despite a valiant effort from National U-18 Table Tennis champion, Shemar Britton.
St Stanislaus College who turned out to be the punching bag of the tournament despite a much-improved performance from the first leg of the tournament, ended the tournament without any wins as they went down to Trust College and St Rose’s.
At the presentation of awards and addresses by sponsors and hosts of the tournament, the representative from INDESCO, who is the primary sponsor for the Georgetown leg, expressed her excitement with the level of commitment the players demonstrated and encouraged them to continue making strides to become better at the sport and possibly become national athletes.
General Secretary of the Guyana Volleyball Federation, Mr Robert Millington who spoke on behalf of the federation encouraged the students to stick to the game and one day they may see themselves representing Guyana at the International level.
He went on to speak of Guyana’s participation at the upcoming Under-19 and Under-23 South American Championships. He urged them to set their eyes on possible selection to those teams.
President of the Demerara Volleyball Association, Mr Trevor Williams, explained that coming out of this tournament, DVA will be selecting a Demerara school team to represent Demerara against Berbice on May 7 in the GVF inter-county school championship.
At the end of the event, the names of about 18 players were shortlisted and they will join with a selection from the West Side and Linden zones to compete for selection to the Demerara School Team.
This leg is sponsored by INDESCO Trading while the West zone was sponsored by Ancam Marine Supplies.
Talk is Cheap Travel Agency is the sponsor of the Linden zone which will serve off today at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground, while DIGICEL and the Guyana Volleyball Federation are also major sponsors for the tournament.