Riga’s men lost their chance to win the Division One National Volleyball league after losing against their big rivals, London Docklands (0-3) on Saturday but managed to lift themselves sufficiently on Sunday to beat London Aquila to maintain their chances of securing the runners up spot! The loss against London Docklands was a heavy blow to the team from Warwick who really had a great chance to take the title out of London for the first time for 10 years but unfortunately in a huge game for both clubs, the home side were able to secure the vital win in an exceptionally close fought battle & the match score does not reflect how close the game actually was & it was a fine line between success & failure !!!! Both clubs have the same record of wins & losses but Docklands set difference is marginally better which means Riga cannot take the title over their rivals, all of which opens up the path for Malory to take the title from both for another year!

The match against London Docklands started with some promising blocks and attacks from the Riga team and in the first set they took an early lead. The London team stepped up the pressure with some extremely powerful jump serves coupled with the other extreme, the jump float, which meant Riga started to struggle for a consistent attack once the quality of the service reception dropped below its normal level. The set saw Docklands score several points in a row on quite a few occasions where Riga could only manage one at a time, all of which led to Docklands winning the set 25-21.

In the second set Docklands took an early lead but Riga managed to regain the initiative towards the middle of the set and establish a lead at 16-14. The London team turned the pressure up again and reversed the score in their advantage later in the set. The Warwick team failed to score on their attacks and Docklands finished the set 25-23.

The third set saw a dispirited Riga team make a large number of errors and Docklands take a good lead early on (8-3) but after a very blunt time out, the team spirit reappeared & became obvious when Riga came back into the set and had 3 set points towards the end of the set. In the end the failure to take their chances cost them the match as Docklands finished the set (30-28).