The Jersey team before their match against the Faroes

A TOUGH start was anticipated – and a tough start was exactly what Jersey’s volleyball teams got.

In their opening match the Island ladies fell to their strong Faroe Islands foes 3-0, but morale is still high in the camp after a fine performance which saw them pull back a respectable 16 points in the third set.

Ladies’ coach Paul Adamson was impressed with Jersey’s form against a team who typically dominate this event – the Faroes have medalled in every Games so far and, on the back of yesterday’s performance, look set for another successful campaign.
But our own ladies were boosted by their efforts, and are still very much bidding for that coveted podium finish which, should they succeed, would be a first Island Games volleyball medal.

Adamson said: ‘We knew the Faroe Islands would be tough, and we knew we’d be up against it, but the girls played really, really well. No team we play back home plays like they do – it was like us playing a men’s team. But we know that if we continue to perform like we did today we can definitely beat the Cayman Islands and Gotland.

‘We know how Guernsey play, and we know we can beat them too. Menorca will be another tough game, though – we watched them play earlier in the day and I think they’ll be very hard to beat, but everyone has an off day, so it’s not impossible.’

Jersey’s ladies need to finish in the top two of their group to progress to the semi-final stage, as do the men – but coach Lee Ingram isn’t so optimistic about their medal chances, despite them managing to pull a set back from Greenland.

The match finished 3-1, but Ingram hadn’t quite bargained on playing such strong opposition. He said: ‘Greenland need to get beaten by either Bermuda or Cayman for us to have a chance at progressing, and, having seen both of them play, I don’t know whether that will happen.

‘Without a doubt I think we’ve got the toughest group, but then I am hoping that we can beat Bermuda and Cayman and reach the play-off for fifth and sixth. That’s our aim now. Still the team has played very well, especially Daniel Grigoras, who really was excellent out there.’