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Polonia arrived at St Nicks with not as depleted a side as Mr Towers had been
trying to make out, with a cameo appearance for Polonia of Ex England ace Jurek
Jankowski. A strong hitting warm-up by both teams set the scene for a match
between two teams that have failed to find consistent form this year. |
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Polonia started the brighter of the two teams with Polonia' s Luciano Pinter
finding the floor on countless occasions, hair pulling stuff it seemed for
coach Tom Young who pulled Warwick to the side early on in the first for a
stern talking to. The telling off did not change the out come of the first set
with Warwick seeming unable to put up an effective block, allowing Pinter and
Jankowski to run riot. There was little change in set two with Polonia again
starting the better of the two sides. A little team spirit was needed and so
Tom Young looked to the extensive Riga subs bench and picked out Chris Anderson
from the two Riga subs available (which included 1 setter). Anderson moved to
the wing pushing Andy Carr to opposite. The change worked with Carr finding
some big blocks to finally slow down the Polonia offence. All round good play
and a run of serves by Anderson pushed Riga into a comfortable position,
allowing them to level the score at one each. |
 Chris Anderson: pick of the
bench!
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Riga's good form continued into set 3, with all Riga players finding their
form. Strong attacks from Warwick's’ middle players combined with pin-point
passing to Setter Phil Wyles meant that more often than not Riga were finding
only a single blocker to beat. he ball away. After a comfortable 3rd set,
Riga's all too usual lapse in focus returned. Jankowski and Michas Saller were
leading the way for Polonia with good hitting and solid passing, forcing
Warwick into a 5th set and a bollocking from Tom Young. In the fifth Riga
stormed into an early lead with several stuff blocks from Kees De Hoogh
including a one-on-one on Jankowski. All Polonia's efforts to get back into the
match came to nothing with several hitting errors from the Polonia attackers
and all round good play from Warwick. |
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Warwick took the final set 15-8 and progressed into the last four to be played
at Loughborough University on March 12th against Cambridge, who following a
comfortable defeat of Bristol, move into the semis for the first time in their
club history. We hope that as many of you as possible can make it to support
Warwick in this feat as they look to progress into the final for the second
year running. |