June 14, 2016 By Sahr Morris Jr.
Young Stars male and female squads last Saturday booked their tickets to this year’s Western Area Volleyball Association (WAVA) finals as both sides registered three wins in three matches in their round-robin semi-finals contest.
Despite being labeled as the tournament’s favourites, the road to the grand-finale was not an easy one for both the Stars team. The female squad started their journey to the finals with a 3 sets to 1 (25-20, 13-25, 25-19 and 25-18) win over Sixers in their first semi-final.
The team also registered similar scoreline victory over Super Six, 25-20, 15-25, 25-22 and 25-18 and
Solar Spikers 25-19, 24-26, 25-19 and 25-15 respectively, to ensure their place in the gold medal battle against Sixers.
Sixers were the surprise female finalist this year, thanks to their outstanding semi-final run against Solar Spikers, who they defeated 3-2 – 11-25, 25-18, 12-25, 25-10 and 16-14. They also defeated Super Six by three sets to one thanks to an impressive run.
In the male affairs, it was a show of true dominance by Young Stars in all three of their semi-finals battles; they first defeated Sixers in three straight sets 25-20, 25-21, and 25-21, before facing tough challenge from both Super Six and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF).
The match against Super Six ended 3-1 in favour of the Stars, 25-14, 25-14; 20-25 and 25-21, while they went on to comfortably wallop the military guys 3-0, 26-24, 25-18 and 25-17.
Despite being dubbed as the favourites to regain their title, the Stars have to again defeat Super Six who made it through by seeing-off competition from RSLAF and Sixers respectively.
A win for Super Six in the finale could not only end Young Stars dominance but also re-write history as it would the first time in over 10 years to have their name on a Championship crown.
Both finale matches have been slated for Sunday, 19 June at the National Stadium volleyball court, while the battle for third place and bronze medals will be played on Saturday, 18 June between RSLAF and Sixers in the male division, while Solar Spikers will battle against Super Six in the female division.