MEN’S FIRST
DIVISION
London Polonia lost to Cambridge 25:22 24:26
25:16 23:25 13:15
St Benedict’s Sports Centre, Ealing, London W.5.
Saturday 25th February 2006
Both teams came close to winning before the end.
Both teams nearly let the match slip. Finally, Cambridge ended up victors to
avenge a 2:3 defeat by Polonia at home earlier in the season. 5:5 over two
encounters: that’s about the difference between these well-matched sides.
The first set established the tone: nothing in it
to 11:11 then, encouraged by two good blocks, Polonia opened a 14:11 lead.
Cambridge came back to 16:15, Polonia moved away again to 22:17 then a real
scrap enthused the spectators while Polonia held their nerve and their form.
Polonia will feel that they threw the second
away. The team had led from the end of the opening rally and, although the lead
never exceeded three points, they still looked safe when set point arrived at
24:22. Ed Ekanen hit the ball onto the three-metre line. Spyros Masouros then
twice hit wide and Andy Lynn hit off the block to lift the set unexpectedly.
If Polonia had thrown away the second, Cambridge
followed suit in the third or, more probably, having slipped from 8:8 to 16:14,
went off the boil and turned their thoughts towards the third set. This was
fortunate for Polonia because, after coach Paul Westwood had confused shirt
numbers on the rotation slip, they had been forced to use an unorthodox line
up. Maybe it was the need to concentrate that saw them through the difficulty
but they saved Paul’s blushes; he could even have claimed it as inspiration.
Certainly, it looked for the rest of the match as
if they lost a little concentration each time they seemed to be getting on top,
teamwork suffering although the decisive factor in the fourth set was
undoubtedly a spell of brilliant serving by Andy Lynn which took Cambridge from
17:18 to 21:18, a point that arrived with an ace. Set point was reached at
20:24 and Martin Luhovy twice finished off some frenzied action as Polonia
closed to within a point; but they had given their visitors too much of a
start.
The deciding set was a close as the score
suggests. Cambridge led at 3:6, the largest the lead was to get. Polonia were
on terms at 7:7 and led by a point at 10:9, by two at 12:10 and just one again
at 13:12. Then three successive rallies were won with an excellent block, all
three featuring Daniel Escott: the first with Miguel Seixas who rotated to
serve, the second with Andy Lynn, the third with Wijnand Mooij. The home crowd
fell suddenly silent but if someone had dropped a pile of dishes instead of the
proverbial pin, the noise would have been drowned by Cambridge’s rejoicing.
Most valuable player nominations: Polonia’s
setter, Ryan Cuthbert and Cambridge captain Andy Lynn. Polonia’s captain Michas
Saller and Cambridge setter Wijnand Mooij must have run them close. The two
liberos shone too: Andrzej Saller and James Verrinder. Above all, these were
two good team efforts.
London Polonia:
Starting six: Ryan Cuthbert,
Martin Luhovy, Slawomir Master, Samuel Piecka, Luciano Pinter and Michas Saller
(captain).
Libero: Andrzej Saller.
Other players: Mike Fetters,
Krzys Hykiel, Spyrios Masouros and Robert Starkl-Johnson.
Coach: Paul Westhead.
Cambridge:
Starting six: John Clarke, Ed
Ekanem, Daniel Escott, Andy Lynn (captain), Wijnand Mooij and Vaclav Petricek.
Libero: James Verrinder.
Other players: Justin
Burtenshaw, Ruud de Wildt and Miguel Seixas.
Coach: Jean Jacquet.
League Table:
(leading positions)
P W L F A Pts.
1. London Docklands 17 14
3 46 20 45
2. London Malory 14 12
2 40 16 38
3. City of Bristol 16 10
6 33 25 36
4. Newcastle, Staffs 18 9 9 32 37 36
5. Cambridge 16
8 8 33 29 32
6. Warwick Riga 16 7 9 29 30 30
7. London Polonia 15 7 8 35 29 29
Acknowledgements:
EVA web site and results service.