HEAD coach Da’Nai Minus, far left, celebrates with the SC McPherson Sharks junior girls’ team after their playoff win against the AF Adderley Tigers. Photo: Tenajh Sweeting
By Tenajh Sweeting
tsweeting@tribunemedia.net
The Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) junior girls’ volleyball playoffs got underway yesterday at the CI Gibson Gymnasium.
The first-seeded HO Nash Lions faced off against the fourth-seeded CH Reeves Raptors in a winner advances, loser goes home playoff battle.
In the first set, both junior girl teams battled on the court for 13 minutes of volleyball action. The Lions came out on top in the first set 17-14 in a matchup that was competitive between the two teams.
The Lions came into the second set on a mission to wrap things up. They started off 9-6 with momentum coming out of the first set against the Raptors. The fourth-seeded team got the score as close as 8-9 but the Lions were too much as they won the second set 17-11 after 22 minutes of volleyball action.
Patty Johnson, head coach of the Lions, talked about their win in this year’s junior girls’ volleyball playoffs.
“It takes pressure off you because when it’s time for the championships, everybody wants to win, so there are no winners or losers but I think the Raptors played a much better game than they did the first time, but we are on our way to the championships and will see how it goes,” Johnson said.
She added that her message to her team was to take it one point at a time and not think about the future nor the past but the present moment. She noticed that her team was rushing a bit and mid-game gave them the message in efforts to get the win over the Raptors.
With the team all set to play against the SC McPherson Sharks for the GSSSA junior girls’ volleyball championship, Johnson will look to spread out her rotation to put the best team on the floor against their opponents.
The second-seeded SC McPherson Sharks defeated the third-seeded AF Adderley Tigers to advance to the junior girls volleyball championships.
In the second matchup on the day, the Sharks and Tigers went at it in a competitive match that featured three sets between the two teams.
In set one, the Sharks bested the Tigers 18-16. Both teams were poised to come out with a win against each other as the first set started out evenly matched (5-5) before the Sharks took over.
The Sharks looked to take things home in the second set but the Tigers clawed their way back into things, dominating the set 17-12 after 14 minutes of action.
Although it looked like the Tigers would dethrone the second seeded team after set two, the Sharks won set three 15-13 after the Tigers were unable to get a serve over the net.
Da’Nai Minus, head coach of the Sharks, talked about how it felt to advance to the championships.
“It feels amazing and it’s well-deserved. These girls worked hard and have been working hard since last year so it feels really good to get this win,” Minus said.
Minus said the girls started off the first set of the playoff game a bit shaky, but she encouraged them to play their game and they got it together.
In set two, she noticed that they got a bit relaxed but were able to cap things off in the third.
The team is ready to take on the HO Nash Lions as the coach said the girls will look to defeat the only team to beat them in the regular season.
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