Subject: Wimbledon Volleyball teams top the Surrey League

Flames and Wildkats go top of the league

The Wimbledon Wildkats beat Ashcombe Dorking 25-17, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18 on Saturday 3 March to go top of the Surrey League Ladies Division, ahead of Ashcombe by one point with one less loss against their name.

The Wimbledon Flames beat Egham 25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 25-12 on Sunday 4 March to go top of Surrey League Mens Division One ahead of Egham by 3 points and with a game in hand.

Wimbledon Flames vs. Egham match report

The following day, the Flames beat Egham 3-1, to take them top of Surrey Men’s Division One.  The Flames consisted of Steve Williams, Danny Croydon, Shy Bertilsson, James Burton at libero, Martin Sinclair, Alberto Zoboli, Pete Hammond and Andréa making his debut at middle with Carol Gordon coaching.

After coming back from a 5-3 deficit in the first set, a Danny pipe hit gave the Flames a lead of 15-11. Egham caught up again but a clever Steve tip put them back in the lead again at 18-17. A four-touch error by Egham sealed their fate at 22-17 and the Flames took the set 25-18.

The second set started at close as the first, with Martin levelling the scores at 1-1 with a stunning hit. A great middle hit from Alberto gave the Flames a 9-7 lead, but at 9-9 Danny hit down the line and then again to take the score up to 13-9. The gap stayed the same up to 16-14 when Martin pounded the ball into Egham’s court and repeated the act to make it 21-15. Flames took the set 25-17.

Set 3 saw Shy coming on for Steve at setter and set up Andréa for a quick middle hit. A great hit from Pete gave the Flames a 6-3 lead. But Egham made it back to level at 9-9. Two hits from Martin kept the Flames in the set at 13-12 and another Shy/ Andréa middle combination took the score to 14-13. Despite a stunning reverse hit from Alberto and a cross court hit from Danny from 2, Egham started to edge ahead and took the set 25-21.

The Flames raced to a 7-1 lead in the 4th set through a succession of powerful hits from Danny and Martin. Egham fight back to 12-8, but with Alberto hitting through middle and Pete hitting cross court, the Flames reestablished a commanding lead with scores at 19-11. Danny served an ace to make it 21-11 and the Flames took the set 25-12 and the match 3-1.

Wimbledon Wildkats vs. Ashcombe Dorking

In the ladies division, second placed Wimbledon Wildkats were looking to become the new league leaders after this top of the table clash against the current leaders Ashcombe on Saturday afternoon at Raynes Park. The Wimbledon girls were also out for revenge after losing a hard fought match 3-2 at Ashcombe earlier in the season, although this time the Ashcombe team was strengthened by a current England senior international player Amy Weemes.

The first set began with both teams giving nothing away and points were traded until Ashcombe called time out with Wimbledon 10-8 up. Some powerful hitting from Freida and good serving from the rest of the team allowed Wimbledon to eventually take the set comfortably 25-17.

The second set started with the Wildkats falling way behind in what was to become a worryingly familiar start to the remaining sets. Ashcombe served well to take a 9-2 lead before Wimbledon clawed their way back but lost the set 25-23.

The third set started much as the second with Ashcombe serving very well and opening a 7 point lead at 11-4 before Wimbledon battled back once more. The team showed a fantastic work ethic on the court really fighting for each other during some long rallies, the Wildkats team appeared well drilled defensively with Sonja van Dwyck in particular making some great pickups to help the team to take the set 25-20.

After ignoring the coach’s pleas to start the fourth set strongly, Wimbledon once again quickly fell behind by 6 points. But a lot of self belief and some good team play quickly got them on level terms again after a 5 point service run from Corrinne Abraham. Once the Wildkats were back level they sensed much of the fight had gone from Ashcombe and took the set comfortably 25-18 to move top of the league for the first time this season.

For more information, please go to www.wimbledonvolleyball.com <http://www.wimbledonvolleyball.com>
or call Jason Stone on 07785 701780