Junior Competitions

2 hrs

U14/15 Tier 2 Junior Grand Prix review (8th and 9th February)

U14/15 Tier 2 Junior Grand Prix review (8th and 9th February)

Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th February saw the third installment of the U14/15 Junir Grand Prix Tier 2, with 46 teams competing in total. 

The boys' division took place on Saturday 7th February, made up of three pools. 

Pool A was hosted by Newcastle Staffs, made up of five teams including; Newcastle Staffs A, B, C, D, and Ashfield Vipers. 

 

Pool B was hosted by The Boswells School, and featured seven teams. 

This pool did one long timed set instead of three timed smaller sets. 

As such, Boswells A came first after winning all of their matches, including a nerve-wracking match against AST Academy A, winning 23-22. 

The top school team also clinched a win against their fellow teammates, Boswells B, winning 24-23. 

AST Academy A came second after only dropping a match to the top Boswells team, having beat all the other teams, including a dominating victory over Welwyn & Hatfield B (30-17).

The Academy team also had a close match against the B team, AST Academy B, who came third after losing to their A team 29-24. 

Fourth place went to Boswells B, winning half of their matches, including a 31-22 victory against Marshalls Park Academy, and a close but victorious match against Welwyn & Hatfield A (27-25). 

Welwyn & Hatfield A came fifth after suffering some close defeats to AST Academy A and Boswells B, but fought hard to beat their follow teammates, Welwyn & Hatfield B (28-26).

The team also drew to AST Academy B (26-26). 

Sixth place was awarded to Marshalls Park Academy who lost out to some strong teams in Pool A, but beat seventh placed, Welwyn & Hatfield B, in a outstanding and unpredictable match, having won by one point (30-29). 

Pool C was hosted by South Hants, and made up of ten teams, divided into two pools of five teams. 

Matches were played to time instead of points. 

The first pool, Pool A, saw Richmond A dominate the competition, winnning all three of their matches without dropping a set, resulting in them coming top of the pool. 

Second place in Pool A went to VBDC who lost to Richmond A 3-0 (12-10, 16-8, 14-11), but beat both South Hants B and Richmond D 3-0. 

South Hants B followed behind after losing to the top two teams, but beat Richmond D 3-0 (13-8, 16-9, 14-13) to secure their third place stance in the first pool, with Richmond D in fourth. 

The second pool, Pool B, saw South Hants A fly through their matches, winning all three.

Richmond B, Richmond C, and Winchester Eagles all won a single match, including Richmond B clinching the win against their fellow teammates, winning 2-1 (12-13, 12-8, 13-12)

Once the pool matches finished, crossover matches between the two pools took place to finalise standings, where the semi-finals were between Richmond A, Richmond B, VBDC, and South Hants A. 

Other play-offs includes South Hants B against Richmond C, with South Hants winning 3-0 (14-13, 17-12, 20-10), and Winchester Eagles beating Richmond D in a close 2-1 match (18-13, 14-13, 8-19). 

After 3-0 victories, Richmond A and South Hants A battled it out in the final, with Richmond A taking the victory in a outstanding 2-1 match (14-7, 10-17, 17-7). 

Overall standings are as followed; Richmond A (1st), South Hants A (2nd), VBDC (3rd), Richmond B (4th), South Hants B (5th), Richmond C (6th), Winchester Eagles (7th), Richmond D (8th). 

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The girls' division took place on Sunday 8th February, made up of four pools. 

Pool A was hosted by Richmond, made up of eight teams. 

This was made up of two rounds, with teams split into three pools, with three teams in each. 

The Gold Pool was made up of AST Academy B, Greenhouse Sports, and Richmond D.

The Silver Pool featured Richmond A, AST Academy A, and Richmond C.

The Bronze Pool included the three Richmond teams; Richmond B, Richmond E, and Richmond F.

After some tough and well-fought matches, AST Academy B came out on top in first, with Richmond D following behind in second, and Greenhouse Sports in third.

Fourth place was awarded to Richmond A, with AST Academy in fifth, and Richmond C in sixth. 

The last three positions were made up of Richmond teams, with Richmond F finishing in seventh, Richmond B in eighth, and Richmond E in ninth. 

Pool B was hosted by South Bucls and was made up of eight teams, where teams were split into two pools of four teams.

The first Pool included Welwyn & Hatfield B and D teams, and South Bucks A and C. 

Welwyn & Hatfield B came first based on points for, after beating South Bucks C, and drawing to both Welwym & Hatfield D, and South Bucks A.

South Bucks A came second after beating South Bucks C, and drawing the other two matches. 

Welwyn & Hatfield came third, followed by South Bucks C in fourth. 

In the second Pool, Welwyn & Hatfield A came first after beating second place, South Bucks B, based on points for, after both teams won two matches. 

Welwyn & Hatfield C and South Bucks D had a similar experience, with Welwyn & Hatfield C caming third after winning more points. 

Following the randomised two pools, teams were then placed into two pools made up of the top four and bottom four teams. 

The Gold Pool saw Welwyn & Hatfield A come out victorious in first, with their B team coming second. 

South Bucks took up the bottom two places, with South Bucks A coming third, and South Bucks B coming fourth. 

In the Silver Pool, Welwyn & Hatfield C came first, followed by their D team in second. 

South Bucks D placed third, with their fellow teammates, South Bucks C, placing in fourth. 

South Hants hosted Pool C, hosting six teams. 

Teams were split into two randomised pools, where the firs pool included South Hants A, Winchester Eagles, and VBDC B. 

South Hants A came top of this pool, beating both teams 3-0 in timed matches. 

Winchester Eagles came second, having lost to South Hants A 3-0 (18-12, 19-10, 20-10), but beat VBDC B 2-1 who came third in this mini Pool A (20-16, 24-8, 17-20). 

The second pool included South Hants B, South Hants C, and VBDC A. 

South Hants B dominated, winning their two matches 3-0. 

South Hants C followed closely behind in second, losing to their B team (23-12, 15-11, 18-10), but beat VBDC A 2-1 (28-7, 17-13, 16-12). 

The teams then played final round matches, where the top three teams and bottom three teams faced each other to determine their overall standings. 

South Hants A came first having beat South Hants B and Winchester Eagles 3-0. 

South Hants B came second having lost to their A team (11-10, 13-12, 16-7), but beat third place, Winchester Eagles, 3-0 (16-14, 13-12, 14-13). 

Fourth place was awarded to South Hants C after beating fifth place VBDC A 2-1 (21-12, 13-12, 9-16).

VBDC B came a respectable sixth place after losing to their A team 2-1 (22-15, 18-13, 13-14).