It was the Men’s 2nd team that kicked off the first of the days 3 games against another local rival, Loughborough University.
Riga were the fixture playing without captain Tom Spijkers and had enlisted the help Tomasz Morawski from the first team to compensate and were also bolstered by the return of Steve Price from holiday.
A slow start from the home side saw the team take an early 5 point deficit but some good determined play then saw Riga matching the young university side for the majority of the set but unable to make up the difference.
The second set started well for Warwick with Matt Bate hitting well through 2 but the team were soon put under the cosh with some strong serves by the away team. Firstly Ivan Spisso and latterly Steve Price were brought into the fray to try and steady the ship but to no avail and the second set was lost to 16.
Typically for the last few games it wasn’t until the 3rd set with the score 2-0 against did the Warwick team start to dig deep. A more committed pass and defence saw the home team matching the Students for the majority of the set and some strong service of there own from youngster and Warwick MVP Matt Bate caused the Loughborough team some problems but the home team had left it too late and the set was finally lost 25-20.
The Warwick team are finding it tough in there first year in the 2nd Division of the National League but have proved in parts they can match some of the more experienced and established teams of the division. The team have also suffered from playing all the teams from the top of the division so far and are looking forward to playing 2 teams from the lower end of the division on the weekend of the 15th and 16th December at St Nicholas Park.
Despite the losses the team remains upbeat about their season and can see the improvements being made.
