London Malory beat
Newcastle Staffs 3:2 (19:25,25:16,25:18,25:27,15:7)
Brunel
University
Saturday
25th September 2004
Author: Will
Roberts
Newcastle faced the
daunting prospect of an away match against last season's
League and Cup Double
winners London Malory for their first match of the new
season. Having travelled
with a strong squad however, 'Castle were confident
of challenging the
Champions, and with young new signings Jon Pennock and
James Mousley ready to
make their debuts, Malory could see that this wasnot
a team to be
underestimated.
'Castle raced into an
early 7-3 lead in the first set, with setter Pennock
delivering the ball to
the wing attackers with speed and accuracy that gave
the Malory blockers
little chance to defend their court consistantly. This
lead was gradually worn
away thanks to some excellent shots by former 'Castle
player Steve Fee, who
beat the defence repeatedly. At 17-17 Newcastle coach
Ant Viggars called a time-out
and settled the players nerves. The delay
clearly worked in the
visitors favour as they went back onto court and
finished the set 25-19.
A tactical switch by
Malory coach Jeff Williams switch Alex Bialokoz from
playing opposite the
setter to being a middle attacker. For the folloing two
sets Bialakoz showed
exactly why he has over 100 international caps playing
this position, as he
drew the Nerwcastle block around the net leaving space
for his teammates to win
points with disappointing ease.
The 'Castle passers Neil
Masters and Dave Lovell had struggled to contain
the Malory service for
two sets, and at 17-13 down in the 4th set, it seemed
as though the match was
heading for a premature end. Again a Viggars
time-out proved crucial,
and Newcastle started rallying much better, chasing
down seemingly lost
causes, defending with fantastic intensity. Two
successive kill blocks
by 17 year old James Mousley fired the players up,
and Dave Lovell was the
man who claimed the glory, hitting down into the
Malory court off the
block to tie the match at 2-2.
'Castle knew that the
shorter 5th set would allow no time for any lapses,
and despite some
excellent tactical setting from Pennock, using his middle
attackers Simon Jones
and Will Roberts to draw the Malory block, Newcastle
never truly gave
themselves a chance in the set. It finished 15-7, so a 3-2
defeat, but the young
Newcastle players can feel that they played well
enough to feel
optimistic about the season ahead.