Riga take on Bristol and get a win.
NVL Division 1, 22 September 2007
3-1 (25-23, 30-28, 20-25, 25-17)
Match Report by Dan Turnbull
Riga welcomed Bristol to the Alan Higgs Centre on Saturday for their second match of the season; the two previous meetings between these sides had both gone the distance with each team taking away hard fought 3-2 victories.
After a 20 minutes delay, whilst the missing aerials were found, the match finally got underway. Riga took the early advantage with some strong net play, only for Bristol to level and build a slender lead themselves, which they were able to maintain until Riga coach Tom Young called his second time out at 16-19. Riga sided out immediately, but did not pull level until the scores were tied at 22-22; however the momentum was now with Riga who took the first set 25-23.
Having just got over the line first in the opening set, Riga looked too push on in the second set. Clever play at the net from ‘Eng’ Chris Anderson, who often found himself up against the imposing block of Bristol’s Dammy Bakare, once again gave Riga the early advantage. As the set progressed both teams benefited from mini service runs until the score once more tied at 22. Both teams gained set points, with the side out advantage swapping hands a couple of times. The set finally being taken by Riga with a block from Dan Turnbull, 30-28.
Riga started the third set well, with John Gilling at the service line, helping open up a 3-0 lead. Consecutive hitting errors from Riga meant Bristol were back the set without having to do anything. Then a series of service runs from Bristol had Riga’s passing unit under pressure and all of a sudden the set was running away from Riga. In a bid to stop the rot and gain some sort of momentum for the impending forth set Tom Spijkers was bought on. Bristol took the set 25-20.
As the forth set was about to get underway the coaches’ clipboard way passed by Tom Y to Tom S¸ the former needing to leave in order to attend the wedding of Riga W1 player Tracy Newton (nee Whitley). Congratulations Tracy & Stef, I’m sure photos will be on the website soon! With universal calls in the huddle to forget the third set Riga took to the court desperate to finish the job without the need for a fifth set. What followed was an almost faultless display of volleyball. The passing unit, which had struggled in the third set, began finding setter Phil Wyles once more allowing the Riga captain to run all his attacking options. At the net both ‘Kiwi’ Chris Anderson, Kees de Hoogh & Dan punished any overpass from Bristol, Kees was also to produce ‘block of the day’ on Bristol’s new young star Dammy. Riga won the match with a 25-17 forth set win.
MVP was awarded to Phil Wyles.
Riga Squad: Chris A (UK), Chris A (NZ), Kees, John, Dan, Phil W, Phil H, Manuele, Luca, Tom S, Tomasz
Coach: Tom Young
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