Report written by Dan Turnbull

Riga’s 2008/ 09 KO Cup campaign started at the weekend against HLB Jackson Fox Jersey.  For obvious reasons Jersey do not play National League and were thus an unknown force, whilst Riga were also without a number of players due to various commitments, all of which meant this had the potential to be a tricky fixture.

Riga were the first to settle after a scrappy opening few points.  Good serving, backed up by solid blocking helped Riga pull out a 9-3 lead and force Jersey into the first time-out. Both teams then traded side outs through service errors. Service line composure regained, Riga extended their lead to 15-5.  Thanks to some good hitting from Riga’s Kees de Hoogh and another service run from Dan Turnbull, Riga looked to be running away with the set at 21-9.   A Jersey side out followed by a block on de Hoogh gave Jersey something to cheer about at 21-11, before a quick middle attack from Cedric Dieudji reasserted Riga’s dominance.  Riga took the opening set 25-14.

A service run from Chris Anderson helped establish an early 5-2 lead and set 2 looked to be going the same way as the opening set.  However, with only 1 of Riga’s ‘normal’ service receive unit present a ‘wobbly’ 5 minutes followed, allowing Jersey to take 9-6 lead.  After a time-out a refocused Riga side were able to regain parity at 9-9, the scores remained tied at 12-12.  A block from Phil Wyles helped move the score to 14-12, but wasn’t enough to keep him on court as coach Tom Young bought himself on for Wyles in a blocking substitution.  Two points later Wyles was back on court and finding Turnbull with a middle attack.  At 24-18 Riga looked to have wrapped the set up before a couple of hitting errors let Jersey reach the 20 point mark.  A side out gave Riga the set 25-20.

Wyles opened set 3 with a 5 point service run.  A period of play saw both teams trade side outs and Riga’s lead remained 5 points when Wyles next went back to serve at 11-6.  A clever service run and some good hitting from Anderson took Riga to 17-6.  Riga were then able to close out the match 25-12.

Riga M1 have been drawn at home in the next round of the cup and face fellow NVL Div 1 side Reading VC.  The match is scheduled to be played on Saturday 10th January 2009.

Riga Squad: Chris A, Kees, Dan, Phil W, Cedric, Phil H, Luca, Tom Y

Coach: Tom Young

Riga W1 got the weekend off having received a bye in round 2.  Next up for them is a home tie against Brentwood Ladies 1.