author=Will Roberts

matchdate=18/2/2006
EVAREF= M1-69
home=Newcastle (Staffs)
away=Warwick Riga
division=M1
Match Report=

‘Castle fight back in style

Newcastle (Staffs) 3 : 1 Warwick Riga (25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17)

Exactly a week after suffering a humbling 3-1 defeat to West Midlands
rivals Warwick in the quarter final of the National Cup, Newcastle
(Staffs) notched up a valuable and well deserved win in the top flight
of the National League. In contrast to the previous week's match this
was an entertaining, high intensity match where the passions were raised
high. Winning the toss, 'Castle chose to serve first as Warwick’s serve
had been such a weapon the previous week, but unfortunately Bragg's
effort went straight into net to give the visitors the first point, and
hand them the serve. On their home court the 'Castle receivers Guest and
Lovell were equal to the demands of the Warwick serve, allowing 'Castle
to attack freely. Viggars was opening up holes in the Warwick defence
through the right side of the court, but with De Hoogh again prominent
on the net the set was close throughout. Ultimately it was 'Castle that
prevailed to take a 1-0 lead.

The start of the second set saw a lapse in the intensity of the 'Castle
play, allowing Warwick to develop a comfortable lead. This was the only
period of the game that 'Castle's service pressure dropped, and errors
crept into the performance forcing Viggars to take time-outs. Warwick
setter and captain Wyles was moving the block with ease to stretch the
home team and Viggars seemed to acknowledge that the set was effectively
over, ringing the changes in the line-up to sort his team’s approach for
the 3rd set. To the pleasure of the large crowd, the players left on
court refused to surrender, winning 4 consecutive points to turn the
complexion of the set around, ultimately swing the momentum in 'Castle's
favour for the rest of the match.

The third set saw the home team turn the screw on their visitors by
significantly upping their blocking performance, and through good use of
substitutions bring on Jon Pennock to maintain a full compliment of
front court attackers. With Will Roberts scoring repeated kill blocks
against Warwick's England international Chris Anderson, and Richard
Guest excelling in both defence and attack 'Castle really started to
dominate the match and the crowd was loving every point. As Warwick's
frustration with their performance started to boil over, the set was
taken comfortably by the home team.

Early in the fourth set, Warwick's frustration at their own errors
spilled into confrontation with the match officials, culminating in the
award of two yellow cards to those involved both on and off the court.
This provided further impetus to ‘Castle who were able to play with an
element of freedom once a lead had been established. This lead was
cemented by a period of terrific blocking from the home side,
effectively removing De Hoogh from the attack and giving 'Castle an
unassailable lead. The match was finished fittingly with yet another
block from Bragg on Anderson, which led to Warwick receiving their 3rd
yellow card of the match once to point scoring was completed.

This win takes 'Castle up the 3rd in the National League, a position
they will hope to consolidate upon next weekend when they host London
Polonia at Keele University (6pm Saturday, final home game of the
season) and then travel to Cambridge on Sunday; 'Castle beat both of
these teams 3-2 earlier in the season in thrilling matches.