MEN’S FIRST DIVISION
London Malory beat Newcastle Staffs 25:22 25:22 25:17
John Kane Sports Centre, Brunel University, Osterley, Middx.
Saturday 28th January 2006
A curious match, especially as it had been Newcastle who
inflicted Malory’s only league loss so far this season: it left the mainly
neutral spectators near-speechless at the end. And its strange nature stemmed
from an almost total absence of passion. Despite a lot of excellent volleyball
played by two determined sides, there was less fervour than would be found in
any scratch holiday game on the beach yet, nevertheless, it proved a
fascinating encounter because of the vastly different approach of the sides and
because only half way through the third set did it become evident that the
Londoners were likely to revenge that defeat.
It has to be said that Newcastle tried to inject emotion
into the proceedings making masses of noise each time they won a point, whether
from their own efforts or after opposition errors. Speaking personally, I am
not sure that this is really effective: in volleyball one loses roughly as many
rallies as one wins (in this game, of course, ‘castle won slightly fewer) so,
it seems to me, that artificially raised spirits are lowered so frequently that
higher morale will be very difficult to sustain. Certainly it wasn’t today.
All the same, they played good volleyball and deservedly led
in all three sets. In the first they were in front throughout the early stages,
Richard Guest being noticeably effective, only to be caught at eleven all from
which point Malory moved to 15:12 and then maintained their composure. In the
second they enjoyed a 15:19 lead, it being Dave Lovell’s turn to catch the eye
in a performance that was to earn him the Most Valuable Player nomination, but
were caught at nineteen all having being forced to call a time out after the
preceding rally. Again Malory rapidly secured a three-point lead and from 23:20
made no mistake. The lead kept changing
hands in the early part of the third but, although still in contention at
14:13, the visitors were never in front after 9:10. Later Malory grew in
confidence and raced away to 20:14 and it became clear that Newcastle would be
unlikely to find a way back into the match.
By contrast, Malory played in almost total silence. They
knew, of course, that their opponents had beaten them in Newcastle in the first
half of the season and that an upset was clearly on the cards. They also knew –
as the visitors probably did not – that they had lost the previous evening to a
non-national league club, the students from ULU (University of London Union) in
a London Challenge Trophy match. Perhaps it should not be a surprise for Lenny
Barry has been telling us for ages about the rising standard of university
volleyball but Malory were nervous and it was instructive to watch their
response.
They turned to clinical efficiency, playing precise,
controlled volleyball, aiming to eliminate mistakes. They made a few, of
course, and ‘castle did not allow them to do all they wanted. Furthermore the
blocking did not claim its usual high point-scoring ratio. On the other hand,
Richard Dobell made plentiful use of short sets to Alex Bialokoz and Mark Brown
and they battled through the first set and much of the second. Then, 15:18
behind, Jeff Williams came onto court himself: always a sign that things are
not going exactly to plan. Four
successive rallies were won by strong blocking with Jefferson serving and the
tide turned. Slowly at first, but increasingly surely, they got on top and when
Jefferson returned to the bench at 23:16 in the third, he might have eyed the
MVP nomination. In fact, it went to Steve Fee and I would have made the same
choice: he had been most consistent, in back court, serving and at the net and
had shown the same determination as his colleagues in ensuring that the points
were theirs when the final whistle went.
The champions will have breathed a sigh of relief but,
suddenly, they look vulnerable. Friday’s result will have given encouragement
to Docklands, their nearest rivals. But Docklands then lost to White Eagles on
Sunday so do they have enough to take advantage? We’ll have to wait a month to
see.
London Malory:
Starting six: Alex Bialokoz, Mark Brown, Andy
Carr, Richard Dobell (captain), Steven Fee and Aaron Stolberg.
Libero: Grant Martindale.
Other players: Andy Omoshebi, Slim Tlili and
Jefferson Williams.
Coach: Jefferson Williams.
Newcastle, Staffs:
Starting six: Sam Bragg, Falko Drijfhout,
Richard Guest, David Lovell, Will Roberts (captain) and Anthony Viggars.
Libero: -
Other player: Nik Hardy and Jonathan Pennock.
Coach: Anthony Viggars
League Table:
(top six) P W L F A Pts.
1. London Docklands 14 11
3 37 16 36
2. London Malory 11 10
1 32 12 31
3. City of Bristol 12 8 4 27 18 28
4. Newcastle, Staffs 14 7 7 25 29 28
5. Warwick Riga 13 6 7 24 24 25
6. Sheffield 12
6 6 29 23 24
Acknowledgements: EVA web site and results
service.