Result and Report: Mens Local League 7/10

Friday 7th October 2005

Mens Local League

Most of the reports this year won't be this long but i thought we should make an effort for the 1st of the season.

The first local league meeting of the year saw the mens team play one of the stronger teams in the league, who gave UEA some good games last year, AVIVA and a new and unknown team in Coltishall.

We had the biggest turn out of guys for a local league match since i have been here which can only bode well for the squad this year, the more everyone can play the better, as we prepare for the Student cup qualifiers in November and hopefully the finals in February. The team looks to have a good mix of experience and beginners, with the beginners all showing alot of promise. The best thing about this mix is that the team can develop together as most of us will be here for at least another year. OK onto the games

AVIVA - LOST 2-1

As i have mentioned AVIVA are one of the more established teams in the league with some good players, although if we are to retain our mens league title we will have to overcome them and others such as Pirates in the remainding games.

First set, we put out a team mainly consisting players from last year so that the newer guys could try and see how the system worked a little. Consistent serving from Eoin saw us open up a lead which was extended by good hitting from all quaters, in particular our German big hitter home from Sweden for 2 weeks, Jacob. Although we allowed Aviva to get a foothold towards the end, we held on to take the 1st set 25-20.

Second set, we started on our main aim to let everyone play and gain experience of the system and enjoy the game. Trying to mix it up a bit so we had someone experienced on court at all times to help the guys through the system. Everyone adapted well and seemed to be enjoying it, with some good spells of play thrown in. The most promising thing was the lack of unforced errors in attack, hits were at least consistantly going in. We battled well but the experience of Aviva was just a little too much and they came out winners 18-25.

Third set saw the rest of the guys get on court, and quickly were learning from theirs and others mistakes on back court and on the net and unforced errors were being slowly eradicated. Unfortunately AVIVA were in a bit of a zone and a shorter 3rd set never really allowed us to get going and AVIVA took the set 7-15 and the match 1-2. I believe had we played AVIVA second instead of first we may have been able to take one of the 2 sets we lost and with it the match, but regardless it was a good performance which gave the guys vital experience and in reality we pushed AVIVA all the way.

COLTISHALL - WON 3-0

Coltishall was a useful game to have as they too are looking to gain experience, and although a 6ft 5 hitter with potential was against us, it was the sort of game we could raise our play and confidence in.

First set we rotated the players once again so that everyone played at least 2 or 3 sets throughout the evening. The backcourt play was already improving with passes becoming alot better, this as last year will prove to be our biggest hurdle but with some work will, i am confident, be better than lasts years passing.  The team work was improving and the ball was being kept up at all costs, something which is greatly important. UEA took the set comfortably at 25-11.

Second set and some more rotations. Play continued in much the same vein as the 1st set with everyone becoming more comfortable with the system. Some class 'Tactical' hitting from I.D saw us stretch into a healthy lead, infact he informed me that this polish fingertip smash was very popular in the rest of Europe! In addition to this, I (Dave) broke my duck of 3 serves in a row to get 4!!!! This is something you will all understand before too long. Yet some more good team play and improved hitting especially from Chris saw a team with hitters playing as setters take the set 25-13.

With the 1st victory under our belt we could have let standards slip in the last set, but no the drive to win is obviously already installed in the team and a beauty of a middle hit from Cookie saw us change round with an 8-1 lead. Again complacency could have kicked in but we went from strength to strength to take the final set with a great score of 15-3. That is great against any team of any standard as it shows there were very few unforced errors which is hugely important to any team.

So guys it was a great evening and performance with the volleyball improving all the time. I hope you all took something out of it and if you are still worried with the system don't be, trust me it will come easily in much less time than you think. Vlad, Dan, I.D, Jacob and Chris, thanks for staying on to officiate, i will make sure you are not at the front of the line to officiate the next game.