After the girls the men took to the court in the quarter final of the cup. They also faced Leeds Carnegie. Leeds Carnegie mens team are currently the best team in England sitting top of the Super 8s table having won 11 out of 11 league games this season. Riga were also without libero Andy Riding with Jonny Balance stepping into the different coloured shirt. Jonny is the youngest player in Super 8s at 15 years old. It was always going to be a tall order, but with Riga men having had a number of new signings during the season and really starting gelling as a team, there was all to play for.
Riga started slightly unsteady of their feet as Carnegie unleashed some fire power from their jump serves and strong attacks. As the set went on Riga started to gain some momentum and some good passing allowed Wyles to find Young (jnr) and Rybarczyk who were hitting well and keeping the pressure on Carnegie. Young (old!) made a substitution and Elliot joined the game and spurred the team on towards the end of the set. However, Carnegie took the set 25-12.
In the second set Riga dug deep and took the first couple of points with strong hitting from De Hoogh and some good pick ups on the back from Young (jnr) and Balance. Riga were matching the hosts point for point and the support from the girls on the balcony was spurring them on. A solid pass enabled Wyles to find Budak through the middle and another superb back court attack from Young (jnr). An overruled line call resulted in a let being called and then Riga missed the opportunity serving into the net. The tension for both teams was clear as Carnegie then followed suit also serving into the net on the next point! Just at the end of the set Carnegie pulled away and took the set 25-18 (a scoreline which doesn't quite reflect just how close that set felt).
Into the third and the girls had to depart to start their journey south through the snow blizzards, but the men ploughed on. They kept up the pressure on Carnegie fighting for point after point. An all round team performance saw a tremendous last set with Riga just missing out 25-20. The standard of volleyball played by Riga shows they have everything to play for in the last few months of the season to fight to retain their place in the Super 8s for 2012/13.
