National KO Cup ¼ Final, 22nd February 2003, Warwick Riga v Newcastle (Staffs)
Warwick Riga 3 Newcastle 1(23-25 25-23 25-17 25-15)
National League Division 1, 23rd February 2003, Sheffield v Warwick Riga
Sheffield 1 Warwick Riga 3 (27-25 21-25 17-25 26-28)
In a very successful weekend Warwick Riga secured a place in the semi-final of the national knockout cup and further stabilised their third position in the National Division 1 volleyball league. On Saturday the men from Riga battled past City of Stoke Volleyball Club in a hard fought 3-1 win (23-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-15) in the quarter-final of the knockout cup. On Sunday the Riga team played a league game in Sheffield and repeated the 3-1 score-line in a very satisfying win against fourth placed Sheffield Volleyball Club (27-25, 21-25, 17-25, 26-28).
Having lost to City of Stoke in the first game of the season in fairly controversial circumstances, the Riga team were extremely keen to make amends for the defeat & started in a very positive manner. However, within a matter of points the Riga team lost all there control & started to look rather nervous!! The first set was littered with lots of mistakes on both sides of the net and the teams stayed within three points of each other throughout most of the set. Weak serving and more decisive play towards the end tipped the set in favour of the visitors from Stoke & they took it 25 – 23. In the second set Riga had a better start and edged away at the beginning only to hand the initiative back to Stoke towards the middle of the set. With the score at 20-20, the teams were squaring up evenly and a tense end of the set seemed inevitable until Stoke made three serving errors. Riga did not make the same mistakes and took the set after a few long rallies (25-23).
Riga went on to win the third and fourth set as they raised there own standards & played a far better technical game than their opponents. In both sets the Warwick team started well and took early leads. City of Stoke are renowned for their defensive efforts and their habit of fighting back from seemingly lost situations. On this occasion however, Riga kept the upper hand with an excellent all round team effort. Coach Tom Young stepped in for flu-victim Dave Nason in the middle of the third set when Stoke were doing their best to get back into the game. The set went comfortably to Riga 25-17 and Stoke were left searching for solutions. In the fourth set Phil Wyles kept making the right setting decisions, Alex Medina started serving the ball into all corners of the court and Mark Fearn found defensive inspiration from it all and made some remarkable pick ups in the backcourt. City of Stoke finally gave in towards the end of the fourth set (25-15) and the win ensured Riga of an exciting semi-final against champions and cup holders London Malory.
On Sunday the Warwick Riga team had the important away game against Sheffield Volleyball Club for the third place in the overall standings of the Division 1 League. Sheffield VC have a young talented team with big ambitions for the future. They started off better in the first set and Riga found it difficult to control their attackers both from a defensive and a blocking point of view. However, the Warwick team managed to stay in the opening set & had two set points at the end of the first set despite never being in control of the set at any stage. The set points were not converted by Riga and Sheffield took advantage on the first occasion to secure the set -25-27. In the second set Riga adapted their block and defence appropriately and started to take the initiative. Kees de Hoogh had a number of successful blocks and Mark Fearn saved some brilliant hits in the backcourt. Riga took an early lead, held on to it and finished the set convincingly 25-21. The same pattern continued in the third set and the beginning of the fourth. The third set was won 17-25 and Sheffield seemed to falter when they were 8-2 down in the fourth set. However, a break of 10 minutes in the fourth set to allow the condensation from the sport centre’s floor to lift, allowed Sheffield to re-group and regain their focus on the game. Riga found it difficult to get going after this break and made a number of mistakes after the re-start. Sheffield did not have the same problem and turned a 6 point deficit into a 2 point advantage towards the middle of the set,18-16. Riga struggled to keep the deficit to two points and with the score at 24-22 the match seemed to be heading to a fifth set. At this point the improvements of the last six months showed as Riga’s unwillingness to accept defeat surfaced. Two consecutive set points were saved after some fabulous digs and decisive hits from Alex Medina. The set could have gone either way but a couple of fantastic pick ups in the backcourt from De Hoogh & Fearn and excellent distribution from setter, Phil Wyles in the final rally ensured that the set and match went to Warwick with a winning smash at the net by Medina. Set score 28 – 26 in Riga’s favour.
After the match, coach Tom Young, was ecstatic with his teams performance in what was a very high standard game of volleyball. "Both teams really went for it & I am proud of the way we knuckled down, adapted to their style of play & in the end fashioned an exceptionally good victory in front of some very noisy, partisan supporters" commented Young afterwards.
The team’s next match is at home against Speedwell from Bristol on March 1st at St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre in Warwick, warm up at 6pm when Riga hope to continue their good form in front of their own loyal supporters.
Tom Spijkers