Monday, June 23 was a hot and sunny day on Croyde beach North Devon. The largest ever contingent of 250 students from all over Devon competed on 28 beach volleyball courts at the annual DCC schools Beach Volleyball championship. St Peter’s took 46 students, all of whom were regular attenders at training sessions. There were three age categories in both boys and girls competitions, that meant six finals. St Peter’s were represented in two of them and took one County title. The u14 girls category was the most hotly represented section with over 20 teams competing. Honourable mention must go to Jessica Seviour and Holly Kirkby who took a pairing of South West team members (Lauren Huggins and Nicole Short) from Brenton School to match point, in the knock stages, before losing out in the third set. Evie Stone and Holly Wright, who are u12 County (and South West) title holders from last year, met Lauren and Nicole in the semi-final. Evie’s powerful serving and Holly’s strategic hitting gave St Peters the first set. Braunton rallied and took the second set. Our girls held their nerve in the third set and won through much to the delight of the assembled St Peter’s crowd, a mini pitch invasion ensued as it was the first time any St Peters team had beaten girls of this standard. In the final they came up against the u16 GB Beach champion and u17 England players Ellie Austin and partner Lauren Short. A tough contest followed, with excellent beach volleyball being played by both teams. St Peters took the first set and then Braunton the second. The prospect of beating such a highly rated GB team seemed to have an effect on Holly and Evie in the third set where they froze and let the opportunity slip. They finished as runners up in the fight for the county title and they were a ‘year young’ for the age category In the u12 girls category, St Peter’s was represented by three teams who were easily the best in the group. All of them remained unbeaten all day against other schools. Izzy Auty-Daw and Alice Friday stood head and shoulders above the rest and took the title without dropping a set. Disappointment came for St Peter’s when Florence Broadbent and Fiona Pugsley met Izzy and Alice in the quarter-final. A better draw would have given an all St Peters final which have led to a fairer outcome. Congratulations to Izzy and Alice who were crowned County Champions. The u14 Girls pairings of Jess & Holly and Holly & Evie will be going to the Great Britain Jr Championships in July where they can rekindle their rivalries with the North Devon teams, possibly, for a GB title! The students were a credit to the school, they left the cleanest beach area and even collected litter that other
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:20:04 +0000
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