St Jago, Wolmer’s retain ISSA All-Island volleyball titles
DEFENDING champions St Jago High and Wolmer’s Girls’ School retained their 2018 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) All-Island National Volleyball Championships titles for Under-19 boys and girls, respectively, at G C Foster College recently.
The St Jago boys fought back strongly from a set down to defeat Manning’s School 3-1 in their best-of-five sets final 15-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-20. This was also the Spanish Town-based team’s 12th hold on the championship title.
Meanwhile, Wolmer’s defeated St Jago High 3-1 — 25-18, 21-25, 25-20 and 25-11. The National Heroes’ Circle-based aggregation was capturing their 25th lien on the Under-19 championship title.
Winning coach of St Jago boys’ Byron Martin said he was happy for the win.
“Despite the team having won they produced a lot of mistakes. Losing the first set to Manning’s was a wake-up call for the players as they came out a little complacent against their opponents; and their attacking and spiking were not working,” Brown said.
“I was also surprised how Manning’s played as they were playing a 2-4 formation, so the players had to change their strategy and attack more and produce a tighter blocking.”
Losing coach of Manning’s Paul Livingston said the players got a bit complacent after winning the first set, as they were not mentally prepared.
“Being one set up, they allowed defending champions St Jago to keep their composure and play extremely well. However, the players played to the best they could but they came up against a very good team who wanted the title on the day,” Livingston said.
Meanwhile, winning coach of Wolmer’s Oneil Ebanks said the team made quite a number of errors, but the players staved off the challenge of St Jago to come out victorious.
“The victory, however, wasn’t all that spectacular due to the number of errors they produced. However, I am quite happy for the win and also the members of the team,” Ebanks said.
He singled out Captain Aiko Jones, who played extremely well and held the team together, though overall teamwork won the match.
