SLAPPERS SLAPPED!

Exeter & District Volleyball Association held their annual Grass Volleyball Festival on Coaver Lawn, Exeter over the weekend.

The Festival got off to a fine start with good weather and some enjoyable volleyball and much frivolity in the FUN 4's event held throughout Saturday afternoon.

A full compliment of 41 teams participated, each team being handicapped according to playing experience, with some fine-tuning of handicaps during the early part of the day.

Top seeds Min Jita's from Stroud romped home in their pool despite strong opposition from local favourites 'surprisingly simon's suffering'. Min Jita's were joined by Taunton TNT, The Smooth Criminals and Bernard who all made it through to the same Cup Pool.

In the other half of the draw it was Space Slappers of Totnes who out-paced the Stroud DB's, and Westley's Wanderers from Newport to reach the second Cup Pool. They were joined by Pink Nips, Otter Giants and the Rooty Hoofers.

Min Jita saw off all opposition to reach the Cup Final at a canter. They faced Space Slappers who alos remained unbeaten throughout the day. But in the Final it was all Min Jita's as they made light of their handicap to romp home 31-21 and thus run off with the trophies, Champagne and volleyballs.

Those not making it to the Cup fought it out in the Pools where all 2^nd , 3^rd , 4^th and 5^th placed teams were matched. Pool winners shared in the prizes with The Stroud DB's, Wimbledon Warriors, The Berts, R4, Incorrect Tubbyman, Activate, President Kennedy 5 and The Pretenders all enjoying great success. Wimbledon Warriors were the cream of the Wimbledon crop having beaten no less than two other Wimbledon teams in their pool. President Kennedy 3 took the award for highest ranked Junior team.

Sunday's COAVER OPEN was also a sell-out yet again with the 56 team capacity easily achieved and many teams disappointed having failed to get entry. Matches started late due to rain early on but, as predicted, the sun shone through from late morning to the end of play ensuring another successful event.

Torexe Breezers set the early pace in their Pool, beating local rivals Friends Provident Jacks and Wonford Betablockers. They also just edged out Funky Monkeys by the odd point to reach the Cup.

Plymouth Users also put in a winning streak with some strong attacking and defensive play, ensuring they also made it to the Cup. Meanwhile, last years Beach winners 'Yeovil Bombers' were also in form and completed a run of victories against Plymouth Lipson, Zymurgy, Kings and Hurricanes.

In the CUP Pools Plymouth Users coasted past all opposition to reach the Final in style and with their un-beaten record intact.

In the other half of the draw it was not so clear-cut with Breezers beating Friends Provident Wanderers 26-21, only to lose 24-18 to Yeovil Bombers. Just to complicate matters further, Wanderers beat Yeovil 22-21 in a thrilling and tight match. In the end it was Yeovil who made the final by the narrowest of margins.

The Cup Final was hard-fought with Plymouth taking an early lead and dominating the attack. Yeovil rallied and kept with the pace, but they were never able to close the gap as Plymouth ran out 24-17 winners.

In the PLATE knock-out Lipson worked their way through to the Final after beating Tornadoes 19-15 in the Semi's. Taunton romped past Kings 28-15, whilst FP Jacks beat Hurricanes 25-18 to reach the other Semi-Final.

In the Semi Taunton started well and looked set to ease into the final, but Jacks were prepared to battle it out to the last and in the dying seconds picked up vital points to edge it 22-19.

But Lipson were just too strong for them in the Plate Final. They took the lead and, although they couldn't stretch it , it was sufficient to separate the teams with the Plate trophies going to Lipson.

The JUNIOR OPEN also saw a full compliment of teams compete for Under 12's, Under14's and Under 16's categories. Local team 'The Bobbys' won the Under 12's event with a 25-12 win over The Girlies, with East Devon finishing in 3^rd place.

In the Under 14's it was Ottery based Kings and Leicester based President Kennedy 8 who won their respective groups and were subsequently matched against each other in the Final. But Kings were victorious with a 25-11 score-line. Plymouth finished 3^rd overall after winning their play-off match.

Bristol based Priory dominated the Under 16's event with Priory 1 and Priory 2 both reaching the final. Priory 1 won it 25-9 to take the trophies & candy.

President Kennedy 1 took the Pool runner-up award bating Kings 3 by just a single match point ! And, not to be out-done, President Kennedy 5 took the other Pool runner-up award to make this a very productive weekend for the Kennedy teams.

In amongst all of the Volleyball the Annual Summer Party was held in Coaver Club over-looking the lawn. This was yet another excellent night of fun-packed activity with live entertainment from FLETCHA, with their own brand of melodic rock, followed by the ever-outrageous DIAMONDOGZ performing Glam Rock to a packed dance floor.

Another free buffet and cheap bar prices kept everyone happy and we even managed to slip in the annual awards presentations without anyone noticing !

Top awards were presented to Exeter College (League Divison 1 winners) and Taunton (Division 3 winners in their first year with the league). Jodie Heal picked up Ladies player of the year and Juniors Nick and Mark Halse took Division 3 Players award, beating off all senior opposition. Paul Dowling was Junior player of the year and referees awards were presented to Julia Chiverton, Tony Dowling and Mike Halse.