St Jago, Knox College claim all-island volleyball titles

ST JAGO High School and Knox College claimed the 2024 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) boys and girls all-island volleyball titles with victories over Jamaica College (JC) and Wolmer’s Girls School respectively at the GC Foster College auditorium yesterday.

It came down to the wire in the boys’ final as St Jago defeated a defiant JC three sets to two while in the girls’ final, Knox College defended their title by edging out a determined Wolmer’s Girls team, 3-1.

In the first of two championship games, defending champions Knox showed their pedigree when they were put to the test by the Wolmerians.

Knox would have been confident in their title defence when they took the early lead in the match. The Clarendon-based high school took the first set 25-18 but could not hold off a resurgent Wolmer’s who rallied to win the second set 25-22.

Following the break, Knox would be near unplayable, dominating from the whistle to claim a 25-14 third-set victory.

They would seal the win in the deciding set, reclaiming their all-island title with the 25-18 showing.

On the boys’ side, it was an intense match-up between St Jago and JC for the national honours as it took five sets to separate the two.

St Jago’s head coach Byron Martin said his team’s champion-like mentality was the reason behind their close win over JC.

“Well, there was a lot of lapsing during the game,” he said.

“But because they are champions, they were able to dig deep and won the competition. I was surprised at JC too because I wasn’t expecting them to give us such a fight, but that’s part of the game. But if you are champions, then you will dig deep.”

The first stanza set the tone of the match as the teams traded points throughout. JC found the breakthrough in a close contest and won the first set 26-24.

St Jago pulled level when they won the second set 25-16 but JC roared back to life in the third, taking the lead again in a 25-15 showing.

With the title on the line, St Jago left nothing to chance, blitzing the last two sets of the competition, claiming the fourth set 25-20 and the fifth, 15-13.

JC’s head coach Owen Leslie felt it was a lack of focus throughout the sets that was the architect of his team’s defeat on the day.

“Volleyball is a mental sport, it’s like chess. When you’re playing this game you have to remain focused and have strategy. We strategised and we won two sets, but the strategy in the other three, we just never stayed focused. A lot of unforced errors brought us down.”