Yeovil VC hosts Volleyball England U18 Grand Prix Tournament Pool

Introduction

January saw another round of tournaments in this season's Volleyball England Junior Gran Prix Series and Yeovil VC had three junior teams taking part in venues around the region.

U18 Boys

Having missed out on playing in the first round of this season's Gran Prix Series, YVC's U18 Boys were keen to test themselves against the competition in the second round which was held on Sat 14th January. On top of that the club was hosting the pool tournament, a first for the club, at Bucklers Mead Leisure Centre which meant the boys had the advantage of some extra supporters cheering them on!

This was the first time this squad had played together in a competitive tournament as it included some new club members and it took the team the first couple of sets to settle down before they started playing better as a team and going on to battle in many tight sets.

With the preceding tournament matches in general (and the first two Yeovil matches in particular) being closely fought, the Yeovil team went into the final match knowing the outcome would leave them as either tournament runners-up or with the wooden spoon! The team showed great maturity to stay calm and claim the final win of the day, securing second spot.

The final standings at the end of the tournament are shown below.

U18 Girls

The day after the U18 Boys tournament it was the club's U18 Girls turn to play in their GP pool which was hosted by Wootton Bassett VC at the Lime Kiln Leisure Centre.

All girls played well, especially the more experienced girls who helped looking after the newer members of the squad some of whom had no previous competition experience. They worked together well and played as a team.

The final standings at the end of the tournament are shown below.

U15 Girls

Rounding up this round of Grand Prix matches, the club's U15 team played a week later on Sun 22nd January at Horndean Technology College and hosted by South Hants VC. This was the first round of matches for this age group and the Yeovil team showed great team spirit with the coach commenting that they had improved massively during the tournament. The experience they gained as a squad was far more valuable than their final table position implied.  Well done girls!

The final standings at the end of the tournament are shown below.