NVL Division 1, 21 October 2006
Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry
3-1 (25-27, 25-18,
30-28, 25-20)
Match Report by Chris Anderson
(NZ)
The first game of a double-header weekend started with a 3-1 win for Warwick Riga over the visiting Newcastle Staffs team.
It was quite a scrappy performance for Riga, who lost the first set 27-25 having trailed for most of it. Some very strange referee decisions didn’t help matters.
Riga found some rhythm in the second set and established a comfortable lead. Some excellent float serving from Phil Wyles pressured Newcastle into making a number of passing errors that Riga quickly pounced on. Final set score, 25-18 to Riga.
The third set swung back to Newcastle’s favour, with Riga not able to establish an effective blocking defence. Newcastle quickly established a 3-point lead and continued to force Riga mistakes. Coach Tom Young was forced to make a change and introduced Tomasz Morawski into the game for his Riga debut.
Tomasz had a stunning debut, bringing a lot of energy and intensity to the court. His injection helped Riga recapture the lead and after a tense final few points where the lead was swapped back and forth, Riga scrapped home with the set, 30-28.
The fourth set was taken comfortably with Riga establishing an early lead through more good service pressure from Phil Wyles and Kees De Hoogh. The game finished with Riga taking the set and the match 25-20.
Highlights of the game included Tomasz’s excellent debut, all players had court time, and Riga’s ability to grind out the win.
MVP was awarded to Phil Wyles.
The match was followed with a short presentation from Phil Hudson. Phil presented the club with the Pete Newnham Memorial Trophy. Pete was a former member of the club who passed away 18 months ago. Phil presented the trophy on behalf of Pete’s friends and family, the trophy will be awarded to the Men’s Most Valuable Player for the season.
Riga Squad: Chris A (UK), Chris A (NZ), Kees, John, Phil H, Damon, Tomasz, Martijn, Dan, Andreas, Phil W.
Coach: Tom Young
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