U18 Junior Grand Prix 2 round-up (13th and 14th Jan)

Each team in both girls’ and boys’ competitions contested games in either a Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze or bronze pool depending on previous performances earlier in the season. 

In the girl's competition, Richmond A had a flawless weekend in the Platinum pool A with victories over Boswells School, Black Country and Urmston Grammar A.  

Last year’s U18 Cup winners Richmond took the first match against Black Country in straight sets with the first finishing 25-14 and the second 25-22.  

This was a sign of things to come with another 2-0 victory over Urmston Grammar A and a shortened game against Boswells.  

The latter match saw only a glimpse of a replay of last year's final at this level, with Boswells having to forfeit the game after the first set due to travel time constraints. 

Nevertheless, they were still able to finish second with straight-set victories over their other two opponents. 

All four have qualified for the Last 8s in March at the National Volleyball Centre, and will be seeded in the order of which they finished in the pool. 

In the two Gold Pools, it was all to play for with the final four Last 8s spots up for grabs, meaning teams knew they would have to dig deep.  

In Gold B, South Bucks claimed top spot in the pool with a flawless three from three weekend with success over Weymouth Ripples, Boswells B and Wessex.  

Not dropping a set and showcasing some great skill, the Bucks side won 2-0 (25-13, 25-19) against Wessex and then really started motoring with a 25-20, 25-6 victory over Weymouth.  

Boswells were looking to join their A team clubmates in the Last 8s but missed out by one spot finishing the first two GPs ranked ninth. 

That was after losses to South Bucks and Weymouth Ripples as they finished third in the Pool to miss out by only 0.3 SD/MP. 

South Bucks claim the fifth seed spot in the rankings with Leeds Gorse Orange just behind them in sixth after a successful weekend in Gold Pool C with three wins from three against Nottingham Rockets, Ashcombe and Urmston Grammar B. 

After claiming 14 points in the first junior Grand Prix and then 16 in the second, the west Yorkshire side are comfortably through to play at the NVC.  

Despite losing to Leeds, the East Midlands-based Rockets have made the Last 8s for the first time in recent history, just pipping Weymouth Ripples to seventh in the standings, who grab the last spot in eighth. 

Even though all the Last 8 places have now been confirmed, it is still all to play for in the Gold, Silver and Bronze Pools, with teams all bidding to be victorious in each of the medal competitions.  

In Silver Pool D, Westminster copied the success of those above them in the gold pools taking the top spot by going unbeaten all weekend.  

West Riding Neko were a close second taking the pool winners to three sets by taking the first set 25-16, only for the Londoners to come back in the second (25-13) and third (15-8). 

Richmond B had a busy weekend with all three of their games going to three sets. Richmond took the match against West Riding Neko 2-1 (27-29, 25-11, 15-13) but couldn’t repeat it against Manchester Marvels or Westminster. 

Richmond B just dropped into the Silver medal pool with West Riding Neko narrowly edging the London team to make the Gold medal pool.  

Malory Eagles hosted Silver Pool E and benefited from the home-soil advantage with three straight-set wins against Newcastle Staffs A, Taunton and Worthing Lions.  

Staffs were a close second with their only loss coming from the host team. They were taken the distance by Taunton but emerged with a 2-1 (24-26, 25-22, 15-12) victory. 

In the three bronze pools, Wapping Wildcats (Pool F), Ashfield Vipers (Pool G) and Willesden Divets (Pool H) came out on top in their respective pools with Ashfield and Wapping making it into the Silver medal pool thanks to their respective successes.  

In the boys’ competition, The Platinum pool, Pool A, saw a series of close games, with Newcastle Staffs A emerging top of the pile as they won all their matches without dropping a set. 

Hosts IBB Polonia were in second after victory in their other two matches against Leeds Gorse and Richmond A, who placed third and fourth in that order. 

All four Platinum teams have already qualified for the Last 8s.

 Gold pool B, played in Coventry, saw Urmston Grammar A come out on top as they recorded comfortable 2-0 success in all their matches. 

Beyond that, the group was evenly poised as Dartford, Wessex and Sheffield all won one and lost two of their matches to finish level on points. 

The Kent club finished ahead of their rivals of a slightly superior set difference (-1 as opposed to - 2 and -3 for the other two clubs. 

Exeter Storm’s performance was fitting of their name as finished with a 100% record in Gold pool A, played at Richmond. 

Richmond B enjoyed two victories to finish second, while Willesden Titans edged out Cherwell to claim third spot, winning the match between the two 26-24, 27-25. 

In Gold pool D, at AST Academy the Boswells School took top spot , winning all the matches they played and six out of seven sets. 

Black Country was the only team to take a set off them, but they were pipped to second spot by Liverpool, with AST Academy in fourth place. 

Silver Pool E, hosted by Frodsham, saw Taunton produced some strong performances and consecutive victories to head up the table g all three games 

Frodsham were runners-up, followed by Ashfield Vipers and Monkseaton, who were separated in the final reckoning by points difference only. 

Dulwich came away on top in Sliver Pool F, not losing a single set, and boasting an impressive points difference of 58. 

Host club South Hants placed second followed by Coventry and Warwick Riga 

Willedsen Warriors put out in excellent performance in Silver Pool G, winning all their sets, while London Lynx Selby won their other two matches to finish just behind them. 

Stockport and hosts MK City rounded off the pool order. 

On the South Coast in Bronze Pool H, Ashcombe showed their skills in clinching victories against Plymouth Mayflower, Bristol and Urbond, who completed the order. 

But the Surrey club were made to work for it after dropping the first set against Bristol before winning the third-set tie break 15-13. 

Over in London for Bronze Pool 1, spectators were on the edges of their seats for a series of tight matches in a three-team grouping decided on set difference. 

VBDC eventually finished top, despite losing their opening match to London Giants, who were second, with Rugby Phoenix in third. 

A second pool contested in Coventry, Bronze Pool K, was convincingly won by Wapping Wildcats after finishing three out of three. 

The key match saw them come from a set down to beat eventual second-placed team London Lynx 2-1 (15-11) in the final set tie break. 

Wombourne had the edge over Hermitage to settle the battle for third and fourth spot. 

In Tier 2, girls’ pool winners were South Hants, South Bucks, Sheffield, Monkseaton A, MK City and Hills Road Sixth Form. 

 Boys’ Tier 2 top teams were Harvey Grammar, Yeovil, Tendring Tech College A, Newbury, Weymouth, Tsunami, Liverpool, Leicester PVC and Hills Road Sixth Form. 

For all the results from all of the 130 teams playing over the weekend click here for the girls and click here for the boys.