(01/04/2000)
Warwick Riga certainly experienced mixed fortunes at the weekend as they fell to a disappointing three-one reverse against Egham before finding out they had booked a place in this season's Shield Final without setting a foot on court. Saturday's National League Division One performance had all the appearance of the night before the day in front, but news of the walk-over into the Final boosted Riga's lethargic troops.
The return of captain Tom Young was balanced out by the absence of Dan Showler as Riga travelled to Egham in search of the double over their hosts. However the shadow of Sunday's Shield semi-final hung over the side and dampened the high spirits of the previous week when they had achieved so much against Champions-elect Malory. The opening set started well and competitively but Egham always seemed sharper to the ball as well as benefiting from any luck that was going. With Warwick half a yard slower than their opponents, once Egham hit the lead, there was only one result and so it proved at 25 - 14 to the hosts.
A straight talking interval between the sets seemed to have the desired effect as Riga stormed into a 14 - 6 lead with Young, Pete Abraham and Phil Wyles leading the charge. However instead of shutting Egham out of the set, points were frittered away and in the end the Riga relief at victory was as powerful as the Young spike which clinched the set 25 - 22.
Egham started the third set better than Warwick but again it was Young and Abraham who pegged back the early lead. As much as Egham were enjoying their end of season outing, so their visitors were suffering theirs. With the service reception now suspect, the efforts of Young and Abraham could not stem the tidal flow of points in Egham's direction as the 25 - 16 score line confirmed.
Set four was the closest yet. Both sides had leads early on, only for their opponents to recover and assume the front themselves. At 21 - 17 to Warwick, the visitors looked to have the timely advantage but poor passing and a series of errors threw away that lead and the match at 25 - 22 to Egham.
"I think we all had one eye on the semi-final" was captain Tom Young's opinion after the match. "We can play far better than this - and we're going to have to if we want to win the Shield." On their return to the Midlands, the side found out that their opponents for Sunday's semi-final, Sheffield, were unable to field a team. That meant the match was awarded to Riga as a walk-over and sets up their first ever National competition final on Saturday 15th April, ironically in Sheffield's Ponds Forge arena. Highlights of the match will also feature on Sky Sports.
But thoughts of Shield glory must be put aside next Saturday as Warwick wind up their League programme with a match in London against Aquila. The hosts won a tight five-setter just before Christmas and Riga will be out for revenge. "Aquila haven't hit the heights this year but they won the league a couple of seasons ago, so they're no pushovers. We need a good performance to set us up for the Final. I don't want to go to Sheffield off the back of two defeats," noted Young.