ISLAND captain Krystof Piaseczyny was the difference as Jersey Men’s A defeated Guernsey in the annual volleyball inter-insular on Saturday.

In front of a packed Beau Sejour balcony, 6 ft 7in Piaseczyny of Poland was the star on his inter-insular debut as his team won 3-0.

The greens simply could not cope with the 27-year-old former Polish national league player’s power who in the red number 13 shirt kept unleashing ferocious spikes.

‘It was their power inside and their big number 13 is the type of player who wins gold medals at the Island Games,’ said Guernsey’s player-coach Ben Hill. ‘But Guernsey can be very proud of what they’ve done regardless of the result. We put up a good fight.

‘We worked our socks off today and although the score line flatters them – they were quite a lot better than us.’ There was an east European feel to the visitor’s team as Piaseczyny was joined by fellow Poles Marcin Migas and Pawel Orzechowski and Daniel Grigoras of Romania.

And it was clear from early on that they could all play as Jersey called the shots in the first set.

Guernsey managed to keep in touch but Jersey went onto claim the opener 25-19.

Guernsey rallied back at the start of the second led by their own foreign import Berislav Bobus of Croatia and Ross Martel.

The pair notched up a couple of hard hitting spikes to see the greens lead 11-5.

But Jersey through Piaseczyny’s big spikes and prowess of Grigoras at the net with some solid blocking, draw level and then go ahead to take the set 25-23.

Into the third set, the home side now seemed to be a bit shell shocked and were stuck to the spot.

Jersey won the final set 25-12 to take the honours.

Their player-coach Lee Ingram was full of praise for his team’s and especially Piaseczyny’s efforts.

‘I’m very delighted and Krystof was quite simply the difference,’ he said.

‘He gives our team so many different opportunities to attack which we’ve never had before and as a result the team can relax because he takes the pressure off. It’s always nice to win an inter-insular, especially 3-0.’ While the Guernsey Men’s A had a rough time, it was significantly easier for their female counterparts as Guernsey Women’s A won 3-0.

The Sarnians took the first set 25-20 and then the next two 25-19 and 25-18 to get their hands back on the trophy. They lost last year’s match 3-2.

‘After last year’s result we’re obviously quite nervous and we didn’t know what to expect from Jersey,’ said Guernsey’s captain Julie Elmy.

‘We just attacked and they didn’t. We just put pressure on them from the start.

‘Ann Saunders had a particularly good game for us as did Andi Pettitt and the rest did what they had to do. It was a good team performance.’

Honours were even in the B matches too, with Jersey winning the men’s in straight sets and Guernsey doing the same in the ladies’ encounter.