Result and Report: Eastern Region Tournament 2, 13/11

Sunday 13th November 2005

Eastern Region Tournament 2

Mens Results.

UEA Men had 2 teams entered into the competition this time. The 1st team fresh off of Saturdays success, in a reshuffled format, were placed in the toughest group along side the competition leaders Brentwood NLF, Ferrits (the strongest of the Norwich based teams, AKA Pirates), Stow Jets and Vipers, All strong teams. It would be a good test especially with the tiredness after Saturday. The 2nd team also had a tough group and as a team who hadn't played together before would be tested by Peterborough, Welwyn, Brentwood Woofs and Cambridge Uni 2, Peterborough and Cambs Uni 2 had beaten UEA in the last tournament.

UEA1

UEAs first match was against Ferrets, a team including our very own Lilian once again. Effectively the same team who wiped the Floor with UEA last Friday in the Local League. But UEA filled with confidence after the student cup qualifiers put up a great performance in a game which was 10-10 and 20-20 at the 2 timeouts. It was a brilliant game to be involved in with power hitting from UEA being countered by tactical attacks and great defence from Ferrets. Some big blocks in the middle and the usual hitting from outside put the game at 24-25 when a left handed hit down the line went past the block and found Dave out of position. Despite his third (yes 3 in one game) dive of the game he touched a ball on its way out to give the game to Ferrets 24-26. Positioning on court is something we do need to work on and i can admit that. It was a very enjoyable game and hopefully we can enjoy some similar ones with Ferrets in the next few months.

2nd Match saw UEA play Vipers, another team from the Norwich local league. They had strength in certain positions but as on Saturday with Leeds we served them out of the game. A run of what must have been 10 or more serves from Loic saw us really open up a lead. The game finished a win of 37-13 but it should have been more.

3rd Match saw us against a good defensive team in Stow Jets with a nice outside swing hitter who caused us problems. We started well but perhaps we were starting to tire, we failed to line up the block effectively against their best hitter and despite some good play in patches we didnt grab control of the game as perhaps we should have. We did come back into it more at the end, but it wasn't as a productive performance as the past two games and we lost the game 24-26

Last game saw us up agaisnt Brentwood, a strong experienced team with national league players. I think had we played them earlier in the day we would have had a really good game, but we struggled to get into and a 2nd ball from the setter saw us flatfooted and give up the 1st point. We never got in front and some good play was evident but against such an experienced team we would need more energy than we had left. We ended up surrendering 7 of the last 10 points and lost 28-22. We plan to arrange a friendly with them too before we head off to the student cup finals.

Although we lost 3 and only won 1 game, the tournament is scored on points scored, so we actually did well and came 2nd in the group.

UEA2

The second UEA team put together literally on Thursday was always going to have a tough time of things. Never played together before and in a reasonably hard group.

They started the day off with a match against Brentwood Woofs, a young but experienced team with some nice hitters. UEA pushed them hard and in the parts i saw were blocking very well and had a few good hits. It was only in the last third that Brentwood really pulled away to their victory 23-27

2nd match saw UEA against Welwyn, a team who on form have two brilliant hitters and can control games well. UEA found this to be true as they sunk to a 17-33 defeat 

Next up was Peterborough, an ex national league team who had beaten UEA in a tight match in the 1st tournament. This time round they had a brilliant outside hitter with a massive jump and could hang in the air superbly. But UEA controlled this relatively well and did them selves proud albeit with a loss of 29-21

Last match was against Cambridge Uni 2. Another team who had beaten UEA in the last tournament but with a convincing score of 30-20. They have some nice players including a very good oriental setter who controls the game well. UEA2 put in a good performance and even on the other court we could hear a good atmosphere was in place which helped them to a very narrow defeat. Lost 23-27

In the end it was the heavy defeat to Welwyn that put the team into thier position. The other games were very close and although they lost them they picked up good point scores.

POSITIONS AFTER 2 TOURNAMENTS

Womens Results

The girls were split into two teams to help let others gain more experience. No doubt a single UEA team would have been more successful but this allowed another 6 or 7 players to gain 1st team experience and understand the game better. Something we want to help achieve this year. Again i didnt get to see much of the girls so if one of the girls from both teams wants to write a short piece on the day then i will add it here. But below are the results. The girls played in the cup format rather than a league on like the men did last time.

UEA

UEA vs Cambridge VC - Lost 12-38

UEA vs Norwich Misfits - Lost 16-34

UEA vs Cambridge Uni - Won 30-20

Two losses and a win saw UEA finish in 7th place with a points total of 58.

UEA2

UEA2 vs Norwich Ladies - Lost 7-43

UEA2 vs Cambridge Uni - Won 32-18

UEA2 vs Norwich Misfits- Lost 30-20

Two losses and a win saw UEA 2 gain a very slight better points total of 59 and finished in 6th place. Would have been higher had they not been unlucky in the draw and having to play Norwich National League Ladies in the first game.

POSITIONS AFTER 2 TOURNAMENTS

So a mixed tournament for the teams, more successful for the men probably with one performing well but losing and one competing hard in their group. Hopefully the girls can gain some more experience before the next tournament on 15thJanuary and move up a few places in the tournament.

For photos of the day have a look at this link. There will be some more added once i have got the film developed.