Presbyterian High captain Wngta thinking of the final
After latest win, Presbyterian High skipper believes his team can reach final
He has been playing volleyball competitively for six years, and Wngta Ang is not exactly happy that he has just one trophy to show off so far, when Presbyterian High School were crowned North Zone champions (C Division) two years ago.
The 16-year-old took a giant step towards adding a big piece of silverware to the tally, when he helped Presbyterian High defeat Catholic High School 2-0 at home yesterday to top their group and progress to the semi-finals of the National Schools' B Division tournament, where they will meet Fairfield Methodist School.
Speaking after the win, the Secondary 4 student, who is team captain, told The New Paper: "It was a very important win for us because St Hilda's (Secondary School) are the favourites, so we wanted to avoid them in the semi-finals."
The win means Ang Mo Kio-based Presbyterian High will avoid a semi-final clash against volleyball powerhouses St Hilda's, who have claimed eight National B division titles in the past nine years.
"Now, I feel that we have a very strong chance of beating Fairfield to make the final," said Wngta.
Presbyterian High started brightly against the reigning North Zone champions, with setter Wngta particularly decisive.
The hosts breezed through the first set 25-12, but were pegged back in the following game by a resilient Catholic High defence.
Neither team led by more than two points until Presbyterian High started to pull away at the 14-point mark, eventually closing out the set 25-18.
"We performed quite well, but we could have defended better," Wngta said.
"We left a lot of gaps in our blocking, which let a lot of balls land in between players. We need to work on our communication as well."
Teacher-in-charge Benjamin Lee believes his players will need to step up in defence against Fairfield on Friday.
"When the ball is back in our court, we have a couple of players who are too stiff," he told TNP.
"We need to get into a better position to receive the ball so we need to be better defensively.
"We have played with them before so we know their key players. We are probably going to do a bit of training based on this game's stats, and we should be able to play against their skills."
Lee admitted that his team already have one eye on a possible meeting with St Hilda's in the final.
"We played against them once and we didn't do well (losing 2-0 in the national preliminary rounds), but there were many areas we felt we could improve," he added
"It's like a grudge match; we are actually longing for the day that we could play them again and take back a good result."
The final will be Wngta's last chance of claiming a national B Division title before graduating at the end of the year.
"If we make it to the final, we will play without stress; we have nothing to lose since we would have already hit our target," he said.
"Of course, it will be great to finally get a win over St Hilda's, especially since their team this year are not the strongest as compared to previous batches."
The final is on April 6 at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall.
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