Men’s 2^nd team win NVL Div 3 N in style!

NVL Division 3, 25 March 2007

Warwick Riga vs Ellesmere Eels

3 – 0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-22)

Warwick Riga vs Nottingham Rockets

3 – 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-16)

Match Report by Richard Digby

So it all came down to the last fixture date of the season as the league
decider. Title-contender rivals Birmingham Uni had straightforward fixtures
against Newcastle Staffs and Newcastle City whilst Riga were at Nottingham
to play Rockets and Eels. At the start of the day Birmingham and Uni were
level on points and set difference, with Riga just taking the top spot on
account of having won one more set. There was no room for error...

Riga showed their appetite for the challenge by arriving in Nottingham
early...in time for the first fixture which turned out to be Eels vs
Rockets. Or was that because the bungling secretary mixed up the match
sequence? Either way it gave a good opportunity for coffee and time to watch
the opposition at work. Eels beat Rockets 3-1 and then it was their time to
face Riga.

It turned out to be a close and tense affair. All of Riga's players were
aware that they couldn't afford to drop a set with Birmingham likely to win
their fixtures relatively easily. It was a battling set with both teams
exchanging points. Riga just pulled clear at the end to win it 25-23. Riga
made a much better start to the second set and pulled away with some strong
hitting from Tom Spijkers to open up a clear lead of six points. Eels were
in for the fight however and fought back to pull level at 23 each. With some
consistent strong serving from young gun Matt Bate Riga held their nerve and
closed the set out at 26-24. Eels still weren't giving up however, they came
out fighting in the third set and it was another close affair Riga ending
the game at 25-22 and winning 3-0. A good performance as libero earned Tom
Young Jnr a MVP nomination.

So it was one in the bag with in theory the easier game to go. Just as well
as most of the Riga team looked spent from their efforts in the first set,
yours truly being one of them. However a little coffee and some more food
stocked the team up and they were ready for match number 2. Rockets had
shown that they could cause a few upsets in their third set against Eels,
their Polish star player arriving just in time (after some confusions over
the eccentricities of Summer Time) to help take the set.

Riga started brightly however with the team's young players Lewis, Matt and
Tom excelling themselves. Matt particularly was hitting strongly and also
being alert back court to pick up balls off the strong Rockets block. Again
as against Eels Riga had a consistently solid serve from all players and
this held them in good stead. The first set was finished at 25-19 to Riga.
For the second set the older legs in Riga's mixed team had shaken themselves
off and the team put together a more convincing performance to hold Rockets
down to 13 points at the close.

So five sets down, one to go. Coach Andy C was on hand to ensure that no one
thought it was all over and that the third set was just as important and
tough as the first of the day. With some solid blocking and inspired hitting
from Lewis through two Riga soon took control of the set and pulled ahead to
open up a clear lead. Rockets weren't helping themselves by making some
unforced errors and the gap opened up to 24:16. Cue a match and league
finishing substitution from Andy swapping an old Young for a young Young who
produced a deadly jump serve to finish the game. It was another young one,
Matt Bate who had a great game which gave him the well-deserved MVP nod from
Rockets.

It was then time for celebration since with both Riga's 3-0 victories,
Birmingham Uni would not be able to displace them at the top of M3N. Tom
Young Snr proved that he could have jinxed us all by whipping out a bottle
of bubbly from his kit bag to spray around the team.

As it was news came in mid-sandwich that Birmingham had won both their games
3-0 to leave perhaps the closest finish ever in the NVL: Both Riga and
Birmingham finishing on identical numbers of points and set difference but
with Riga winning just one more set, enough to move them into Division 2
next season.

As a final note I'd like to say thanks to Andy for putting all the time in
to coach the team over the season. Also thanks to everyone in the team
including those who have moved on, Juliano (setter extraordinaire), Steve
Box, and Martin (although you've got no excuse not to be around next
season...) You all made it a fun but competitive team to play in.

Team:
Andy Collins
Tom Spijkers
Richard Digby
Matt Bates
Tom Young
Tom Young Jnr
Lewis Messam

Men's team crack open the champagne to celebrate!

Those spare shirts came in handy in the end!

A tired but happy and victorious team - ready to take on NVL 2!