Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Jamaica's junior volleyball head coach, Oniel Ebanks, has expressed satisfaction with the level of the sport in the island.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Saturday after the Volleyfest 4x4 volleyball competition, which Wolmer's Girls hosted in the honour of Annie Williams-Lewis, a past student and national player, Ebanks was pleased with the talent he saw on show.

"We did achieve what we set out to do and that was to get teams to participate and getting players to play a lot of volleyball, and it happened today," said Ebanks, the chairman of the organising committee.

Good competition

"The level of competition I saw was really, really good. Godfrey Stewart have improved immensely, St. Andrew High they are coming on very, very strong. They have shown a lot of improvement, Old Harbour High have good new players and they have talent, so it was a competitive day, you didn't have any weak teams.

"Wolmer's had two novice groups in it and they gave a good account of themselves," added Ebanks, who is assistant coach of the female national team. In an all-Wolmer's final, on the court, Fierce defeated Sparkles 21-18, 21-15 for the championship trophy.

In the third place play-off, Godfrey Stewart, who lost narrowly in the semis, were determined they weren't leaving without a trophy and crushed Estrellas 18-9. Earlier, Fierce defeated Godfrey Stewart 21-20 in a very close and exciting semi-final. In the second semi-final, which was also a close and exciting affair, Sparkles defeated Estrellas 21-19.

In quarterfinal action, Sparkles beat Ground of Old Harbour High 18-12, Estrellas stopped DNAngles 18-10, Fierce beat Basement 18-12 and Godfrey Stewart outplayed Frost 18-7.

Five of the quarter-finalists - Sparkles, Estrellas, DNAngles, Fierce, and Frost are from Wolmer's.

Racquel Cole of Fierce was voted the MVP of the tournament. Cole won the awards for best server and best blocker.

Fierce also took home the best setter award with Roxanne Thomas; and the best spiker award went to Matrits-Ann Sinclair.

Shantel Watson of Godfrey Stewart got the best passer award while Natasha Lumley of Estrellas took the best defender award.