Warwick Riga vs Preston

3 – 1 (25-29, 25-13, 25-14 )

Warwick Riga vs Newcastle Staffs

3 - 0 (25 - 0, 25 - 0, 25 - 0)

Match Report by Rich Digby

It was another long trip up North for Warwick Riga M2 for the away fixture
against Preston. Since Newcastle Staffs were unable to field a team, Warwick
already had one 3-0 result in the bag and were keen to add another to
maximise their promotional chances. Also it was the last match for
star-setter Juliano Buquio before he heads back to Brazil so the team wanted
to send him off in the right way.

Arriving over an hour before the match after another early start enforced by
coach Andy Collins, the team had time to regroup and enjoy a coffee before
getting on with the match. Riga fielded a strong first six to get things off
to a good start and after a bit of wavering soon got into their stride
closing out Preston to take a comfortable lead. There was only one match to
play however and Andy C wanted to make the most of mixing things up for the
team so made a double-substitution to bring on the young guns. Problems
arose briefly due to confusion in the serve receive and this allowed Preston
to claw back to within one point after being ten points behind. Tom Y was
doing his nut on the bench quite rightly and the team rallied to close out
Preston 25 -19 to take the set.

The second set started in a much better way with Polish Chris supplying some
serves which gave Preston difficulty. The rest of the team joined in on the
effort and didn't let up. Juliano was producing some peachy sets to enable
Warwick to use all three attacking options, which opened up the Preston
defence. It was a great team performance which continued with some further
substitutions including Warwick Man of the Match Tom Young Jnr, and Warwick
shut Preston out at 25-13.

The third set went in a similar way with a strong start with Chris and
Juliano linking up to give a stylish display which put the fight out of
Preston and Warwick completed a 3-0 victory with a score of 25-14.

It's now back to the training court with a long break until the last matches
of the season on 25 March, but the team are still top of the table and
eyeing up NVL Division 2. Thanks must go to Juliano for his fantastic
setting over the season despite his "fashionably late" attendance on
Wednesday nights...

Matt Bate clears the block through 2

Rich Diby and Matt Bate run a combination through the middle to confuse the Preston block.