Tuesday, May 05, 2009
4th May 2009, Monday.
Hwachong volleyball won 25-4, 25-9 against Tpjc. With this victory, Hwachong has now entered the second round of the nationals. If hwachong were the prematch favourites, they certainly did not show it in terms of complacency as they gave a composed and efficient performance.
Melvin, Samuel, Galvin, Chen Xing, Kian keong, Rui Yang and Wincoln started the first set. Hwachong pressed for the win right from the start as Kian keong served 8 consecutive times, this combined with some textbook spikes and blocks by the attacking trio of Galvin, Samuel and Ruiyang ensured that hwachong storm to a 8-0 lead. As tpjc recovered from their initial shock, they hit back by claiming 2 points. With the score at 9-2, Hwachong started pulling away with Captain Samuel dishing out some impeccable serving for 16 consecutive times. Chen Xing, eager to replicate his impressive form of late, had another fine outing as he racked up several key spikes and blocks to set the team course for victory. Not to be outdone by him, Melvin and ruiyang also played crucial roles as they amassed a total of 8 spikes and 2 blocks to put Hwachong firmly in the driving seat. A particular highlight was the delightful tandem between ruiyang and Chen Xing with the score at 10-2. With defensive stalwart, Samuel and Wincoln dealing with every tpjc attack, before long, hwachong found themselves in a comfortable position of 23-2. However, a rare mistake by Chen Xing ended Samuel's serving spree as he failed to block a spike by tpjc. Tpjc regrouped and won another point to make it 23-4, but it wasn't long before Chen Xing made amends with his trademark quick ball that won back the serving right for hwachong. Melvin then sealed up the win with fierce spike down right.
With the impending PJC match ahead, Coach decided to change almost the entire team for the second set, leaving only Wincoln and Chen Xing unchanged. Kenneth, Glenn, Lennis, Zijie, Kuan He played. Hwachong started with several hiccups as they struggled to find the rhythm of the game. Kuan he struggled initially with some uncharacteristic errors. However, some quick thinking by setter glenn stopped the rot as he landed a drop shot on the opponent's court. Kuan He then made amends for his earlier errors with a nice spike down the left hand corner of the court to bring the score to 5-2. Lennis's service extended hwachong's lead to 10-3 as tpjc crumbled with a series of spiking and serving errors. Things gradually grew bad for tpjc with the return of Chen Xing to attack. Once again, his aerial dominance ensured that the tpjc attack was nullified most of the time as they struggled to find a way past his arms. This coupled with the measured spiking of subset Zijie and open spiker Kenneth ensured that hwachong led at 18-6. Some memorable moments would include a fierce spike by zijie down right with the score at 13-5 and an excellent spike by kenneth down left at 19-8. With the game at 23-8, Wincoln was forced to make a good dig following a good spike by tpjc which was immediately followed up with a powerful spike by Kuan he that brought us closer to victory. An opponent error rounded up the hci victory as they won 25-9.
Following this victory, hwachong volleyball will next face a stern test in the form of pjc. In this highly charged fixture that pit both title contenders against each other, Hci will seek to redeem itself following last year's heartbreaking loss to pjc that led to our exit from the nationals. 6th May 2009, Wednesday, 1.30pm, ccab, your support will be appreciated.
life can be a burden, but dun ever give up