Volleyball report

The Tameside primaries Volleyball competition came to a close on Monday 27th of Feb, with Russell Scott emerging as deserved winners. The competition saw 31 teams from 24 schools compete for 12 spots in the finals.

The 12 teams that qualified for the final at Fairfield High School for Girls were as follows:

Dowson, St Georges Mosley 1 and 2, Canon Burrows 1 and 2, Russell Scott, Stalyhill, The Heys, Rose Hill, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Linden Rd and St John Fisher.

On arrival at Fairfield the teams were split into groups of 3, playing off against each other in a round robin format. The top 2 from each group went through to play quarter final matches against teams from another group.

The quarter finals saw Dowson pitted against Stalyhill, Russell Scott against Canon Burrows 2, Canon Burrows 1 against Linden Rd and St John Fisher against Our Lady.

In the semi-final, as Dowson eased passed Linden Road, Russell Scott faltered for the 1st time in the competition, ending the 5 minute time allocation for the match at 13-13 with a promising young Our Lady team. Up until this game Russell Scott had not conceded more that 7 points at any time in the competition. It was decided that the teams would play a tie break set to 3 points to decide who would go through to the final. Russell Scott pulled themselves together and took the set 3-0, booking themselves a place in the final for the 2nd year running.

In the final Russell Scott continued their fine form from the tie break semi, taking the game 19 – 9. Although Dowson served well, Russell Scott’s ability to select the right shot and pass the ball comfortably between themselves was too much for them, as it had been for most teams during the competition this year. Once again showing the success of Manchester City’s Premier League 4 Sport project that 3 years ago set up a volleyball club at Russell Scott that is now ran by the school.

The 3rd place playoff saw Our Lady come away with the bronze medal.