Tuesday 29 January 2013

Beach News (we must be due a scorcher this summer!)

Rumour has it that Worthing Sand Courts could be getting flood lights and there will be a mixed four a side beach tournament on the 16th of June! I will post more details once I have them.

No Training on the 12th of Feb, but join us for a beer and curry!

The school is unavailable on Tuesday the 12th of Feb so why not join us for a beer and a curry? I have sent a Teamer to all club members, but if you do not Teamer (why not?) then email or speak to Andy Lay for details. Cheers Andy

Sunday 27 January 2013

Sharks lose a 5 Set Thriller!

The Sharks welcomed Ross to the team for his first match of the season where he played through the middle with Paul and Tim setting. Jon played through the middle with Eber and Luis through the outside. Despite the different line up the Sharks started well securing the first two sets with relative ease thanks to some strong hitting from Jon and generally good team play from everyone. Adur Panthers changed things around and played a new opposite who looked liked he had played at a higher standard before and they secured a close third set. The Sharks worked hard and took the fourth set to the wire, but were unable to close it out and the match move to a final 5th set. The Sharks could not have started the set any worse and at the turn around they had failed to win a single point. Strong words in their second timeout and the Sharks started to put up a strong fight and put Adur under pressure. They managed to secure 11 points before Adur won the set which just went to show what they could have achieved if they had started the set with the same fighting spirit. Jon secured MPV and Ross had a good start through the middle where aggressive blocking and good off speed hits to the corners won the team many points.

Demons lose to Adur 3-0

The Demons put on a spirited display against Adur Teela where they battled hard, but eventually lost 3-0. There was some good hitting from Sabrina and blocking from Sophie, but Adur were well organised and always managed to keep their heads in front. Lorna set some good balls when she had to provide cover for the setter and Sandrine covered a lot of court as usual. As ever there was good team spirit, but they just need convert it in to points at the business end of each set. Well played and haveadded some photos from the match.



Sunday 20 January 2013

Jets Back To Winning Ways (just!).

Jets beat Adur Tigers after coming back from 2 sets down and 3 match points against them in the 4th!
The Jets had a full squad, but Dom was far from fully fit due to illness. The first set went to Adur with Kishan and Iain through the outside, Josh and Dom through the middle and Martin setting with Matt Wilkes opposite. Bernard replaced Kishan and Matt Lay came on in the second set, but although closer the result was the same and the Jets had a long fight ahead of them to avoid defeat. Some strong jump serving from Martin, more mobility in back court, Kishan replacing the clearly under the weather Dom and inspired blocking and hitting from Josh secured the third set. A strong start in the fourth set from Adur was pegged back once again by strong serving from Martin before Adur had a run of points to take them the 24-21 and serving for the match! The Jets showed great character to close the gap and win the set to take it to a final set decider! The Jets finally showed some form to storm to any early lead that they never looked like losing. The Jets finally closed out the set and can look forward to a bit of a break until their next match in Feb. Bernard secured player of the match and must have been pushed by Josh who was outstanding in every set.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Vipers Match Reports from Mark


Vipers vrs Kings

Monday night saw the vipers back in action after the disappointing loss to Eastbourne just before Christmas. After a long and interesting drive for some of us, for one of the furthest trips of the season to play against a well spirited but slightly under powered Kings team.

Vipers had a full squad minus the Richard (flu), Dom and Matt (exams). The plan for the game was to play hard as well as trying out some new rotations and attacks that we have been working on in training. The new plans worked well, but maybe not as consistently as would have been liked.

The starting 6 were Andy L setting, Damien opposite, Mark & Andy C middle and Jimmy & Mickey through 4. This was the same for all the sets other than rotation of the middles plus Paul changing with Mickey to hit through the outside where he had some success killing the ball a number of times.

All 3 sets were similar with Vipers starting strongly and winning runs of points but then allowing Kings to come back into the game with serving/serve receive and hitting errors. The Vipers did win comfortably with to much attacking power for the Kings team.

We must also mention the hard work by the middles to draw the block to allow the glory boys through the wing to be able to kill the ball!

The market dinner won the vote over the pub on the trip home with gut busters for all that could handle it!

Vipers Match Report for Eastbourne by Mark


Vipers vrs Eastbourne

The Eastbourne game before Christmas as expected proved to be a hard fought encounter.

Esatbourne arrived with a strong team with a few new recruits and were well coached and organised. Vipers also had full squad other than the ever injured Mark but struggled to find their game.

Eastbourne started strongly, had a real desire to win and this combined with too many errors from the Vipers meant they won the first 2 sets. Vipers did come back strongly to win sets 3 and 4 and the fight they showed was good to see. The 5th set to did not start well for the vipers with Eastbourne taking an early lead and with the shortened format in the 5th set is was to much and Eastbourne deservedly won the game.

As mentioned in previous match reports the game highlights the high standard of the league this year with a number of strong teams which is encouraging for all involved.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Jets lose unbeaten run!

Jets lost their first match of the season against a strong and well organised Hastings team. Jets started well in each set, but were unable to maintain the pressure losing to 21, 23 and 23. Jets lost a close first set with Kishan and Iain through the outside and Dom and Josh through the middle. The pass in was not bad and was helped with Dan playing his first match a libero. The second set saw Bernard play through the outside  joined by Dom with Matt and Josh through the middle. In each set the jets established early leads only to buckle under pressure as the score reached the 20 mark.
The Jets played well, but this was the first match where their inexperience showed at key times in each set. With such a good start to the season it is easy to forget that 4 of the team are still under 18 with Matt Lay and Dom only just 16 and 15 respectively. Hastings showed more experience and the Jets struggled to consistently open up their own middle attack and get hold of the Hastings hitters.

The real test will be how the team reacts to the loss, but with only one match lost it is still all to play for. Martin picked up a well deserved MVP the team retired to the Market Dinner to lick its wounds.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Happy New Year - News Update

Hi,

Happy New Year to all and please see a quick News Update as follows:-

  • Devils beat Ashcombe Durrington last Sunday with an easy 3-0 win. Happy to publish a match report if I get one!
  • Demons fought back from 2-0 down against Kings to level the match only to lose the last set and the match 3-2, but was great to see their fighting spirit is still very much alive.
  • Vipers lost a very close match to a much improved Eastbourne team before Christmas which opens up Div 1 again. Horsham recently beat Adur so it is all still to play for, but with no room for any more slip ups! Vipers play Kings away next Monday the 14th.
  • Sharks play Dolphins tonight (Wednesday the 9th of Jan) so good luck and hope you have enough players to secure another win.
  • Jets have a crucial match against Hastings away on Sunday the 13th. Hastings have only dropped one match so far this season so this could go a long way to decide the winners of Mens Div 2.
  • Devils play Adur Adora at Lancing Manor Sunday the 13th.
Please let me have any match reports and if anyone received a new camera for Christmas, then why not use it at a match and send me some more photo's to post on the site!

Enjoy the second half of the season.
              Cheers Andy