Vipers beat Adur 3-1 to keep up the pressure at the top of Div1

Vipers won a keenly contested match. Watch this space for a match report from Mark, but a great result against a very competitive Adur team.

Demons lose to Durrington in a close match.

Demons played Durrington On Monday night in a 5 set match. If anyone lets me have a match report I will post it.

Devils beat Kings and Sharks beat Horsham

The Devils beat kings despite a spirited performance from the visitors. After winning the first 2 sets comparatively easily Kings fought back strongly to win the third set. The fourth set was very tight and keenly contested before the Devils ran out eventual 3-1 winners.

The Sharks again struggled to field a team and with Tim, Paul and Ross all unavailable Andy Lay stepped in to set with Dom making up the 6 playing opposite. With Luis and Jan through the outside and Jon and Ebber through the middle the Sharks started strongly with some great hitting and blocking. A good all round performance resulted in a 3-0 win. Dom hit well and Jon managed to find gaps in the oppositions defence which enabled him to pick up MVP despite struggling to end the match due to injury.

Demons against Devils the rematch!

Demons Vs Devils 2013

The eagerly anticipated return match brought nail biting moments; not just for the massive crowd, but for the ref also...the Demons put out a team determined to fight to the end!

Highlights for those watching; Abby in fine libero mode, when not moaning about her Elvis legs actually picked up some evil balls..

Lorna putting in her biggest block of the season; showing she has both fight and determination!

Sandrine; deserving POM for her flintstone legs ( no not hairy...fast!)

And the big Smack moment; BOOM; Teresa bites the dust! No more said..

Of course the biggest highlight was Sabrina’s sprinkle cake, fine butter icing for the best of Worthing ladies...

The conversion to points, again took two sets, but as the warm up ended ( oops..set two..) finally the Demons pulled out a great set, only to loose marginally..

A well deserved POM for Chantelle for the devils also.

Good look girls; next Monday, Allez Allez!!!

Vipers 3 Horsham 2 Match Report from Mark

The Vipers took on Horsham on Sunday in what was expected to be a very tough game.

Horsham had a large squad of tall powerful players, are well organised and were clearly fired up for the game. The Vipers also had a full squad with the exception of Jimmy for the first set. The starting 6 were Paul and Mickey passer hitters, Mark and Nigel middle, Damien opposite, Andy L setting and Richard libero, with strong substitutes of Andy C, Dom, Matt and Jimmy.

Set 1 started well for both teams with a high standard of volleyball on show. Unfortunately the Vipers made too many errors at the start of the set allowing Horsham to pick up easy points and open up an early lead. A strong end to the set from the Vipers was not enough though and Horsham were able to see out the first set. The second set saw Jimmy replace Paul who had played and attacked strongly towards the end of set 1. Using the momentum and confidence from the end of set 1 the Vipers started well and were able to open the middle and win points comfortably. The more focused effort allowed the Vipers to cut out the errors, put Horsham under pressure, which they did not like, and were unable to respond too. Set 3 went the same way as set 2 and again the Vipers were able to control Horsham attacks with a few changes to the defence system and put pressure onto Horsham.

Vipers lost a run of early points at the start of the fourth set that allowed Horsham to take an early lead. Vipers did manage to stop the run, fought back well, but never managed to get a run of points to close the game. Still playing well but only trading points the game headed to a fifth set. The crucial final set started evenly with both team trading points, which was made easy for the Vipers with a number of Horsham serving errors. Horsham did manage to take the lead at 13-10 though and the Vipers were up against it in the shortened set. Some great pick ups from both Mickey and Nigel in the back court changed the game and as momentum swung back in the vipers favour they were able to see out the fifth set thanks to some good back court coverage and powerful attacking.

To win 3-2 in a crucial game showed how the team has developed and all involved, although limited in court time due to the nature of the game, were key to a great win. MVP went to Andy Lay and was well deserved for his good distribution and decision making under pressure.

Thanks also to the support which has great to have and provided really good atmosphere and Martin who assisted with coaching advice.

Jets Beat Dolphins 3-0

Jets were missing Bernard and Iain for their match against Jets which meant Martin setting, Matt Wilkes  opposite, Matt Lay and Josh through the middle, Kishan and Dom through the outside and Dan Libero.
The Jets started strong and won the first set with relative ease with Josh and Dom hitting well with great back court coverage from Dan. The second set saw Kishan find his range with Matt and Martin connecting well through the middle. Matt Wilkes hit not one but two cracking reverse, but the were too many serving errors as they all started to take their foot off the peddle.
The final set saw a return to a better standard of play from the Jets who eased to a 3-0 victory. Martin picked up another MVP and the Jets look forward to a harder test against Adur in a few weeks time.

Jets win 3-0 and Vipers beat Horsham in a 3-2 Thriller

The Jets beat Dolphins 3-0 and a full match report will follow.

Vipers beat Horsham in a 3-2 thriller securing the final set 16-14. Looking forward to the match report from Mark, but just wanted to say thanks to the support which was awesome. There was a great atmosphere that really helped the Vipers get over the finishing line.

Match Arrangements

This Sunday 17 Feb we have 2 matches at WHS;

6 pm:    Jets v Dolphin 2   (Jets will be aiming to keep up the pressure at the top of Div 2)

8 pm: Vipers v Horsham 1 (This is one of Vipers' biggest matches of the season and should be highly competitive!) Why not come and support our teams?

On Monday 18 Feb, 8 pm  Sharks are away to Kings 2 at East Grinstead.

Unfortunately we are losing the use of the Sports Hall on Sun 3 Mar and from Tue 2 to Sun 14 Apr while the floor is refurbished. This requires the rearrangement of 6 matches!

On Tue 19 Feb we will attempt to get the Demons v Devils match played instead of the usual ladies' training. Could both teams please confirm that they can play on Tuesday?  Warm up 6.00 pm, match start 6.30 or whenever the teams can get going (preferably by 7 pm). 

I have also asked Eastbourne Ladies team if they could possibly play Demons at WHS on Fri 22 Feb. Start time would be about 7.30 pm.

Please keep checking your e-mails as things are rather fluid at the moment! Your help and understanding is very much required.

Thanks

Nigel

Vipers beat Dolphins 3-0 (Report From Mark)

The Vipers played Dolphins on Sunday which was there last chance to prepare before the crucial Horsham game on the 17^th Feb. Dolphins although not as strong as they have been in previous years but proved to be a tough well spirited side.

Vipers had there whole squad available and the game allowed everyone to get valuable court. Vipers started with Mickey and Jimmy as passer hitters, Mark and Nigel through the middle, Damien opposite, Andy L setting and Richard libero. This was the same starting team for all 3 sets with the plan of a good strong start to be able try different options and attacks. The Vipers started well and service runs in each set allowed large leads to open up. Substitutes did well when they came into the game with Paul coming on for Mickey and Andy C through the middle. Matt L also did well when he come on for Andy in an unfamiliar rotation with Damien setting to allow 3 front court hitters.  

At times the Vipers did play well but proved to be to inconsistent and error prone and will need to step up there game for next week..

If anyone is available to come and support on Sunday it would be great and it should be a hard fought competitive game. (8pm warm up WHS)

Demons Struggle Against Dolphins 1

Match report Demons vs Dolphins 1 (10/2/2013)

If there could be an award for effort, the Demons would win every game. With a strong Demon team on home turf facing the mighty Dolphins, effort, team spirit and some great play meant those  Dolphins looked less mighty than usual. It was a close match, with the Demons unjustly losing the first set 24/26. Of course the star of the show was, as ever the cake at the end; the temptation of Sophie’s chocolate brownie was too much for some, and the stomachs began to rumble; as did the second and third set. It began to look like the demon breakfast feast was over as the Dolphins appeared to wake up. After a couple of serve runs, though heads were held high, the points remained a little low, and the girls decided it was time to get home to watch the Grammys....

Thanks to the refs and lines men who were giggling like girls, it made us feel girly too!

Well-done team, skills shown tonight were ;

1.

     Blocking; a rare and exquisite ancient art of pelvic floor control

2.  Hitting; a demonstration of Monday morning anger at the bin men for waking us up early

3.

     Diving; a relic from female ancestry where floor had to be cleaned at close range to check for perfection

4.  Digging; a gardening skill, still practiced by many in modern times.

5.  Volleying; not sure if i can either spell it, or find the definition on Wikipedia...

I am back; as is the match report;  debs x

Jets win 3-0 against a much improved Eastbourne 2

The Jets travelled away with a full a squad to play against a much improved Eastbourne team. Eastbourne had a different setter and a couple of stronger hitters than when they played them at the start of the season. The Jets started strongly with Kishan and Iain hitting well through the outside, Dom and Josh through the middle, Martin setting and Matt Wilkes opposite. With very few errors, strong serving and great mobility back court the Jets won the first set 25-10. With Matt Lay replacing Dom and Bernard on for Iain the Jets started the set strongly, but with far more serving errors and simple mistakes Eastbourne managed 20 points before Jets closed the set out. Despite warnings from their coach the Jets started the third set poorly making way to many errors and not moving well enough in back court. Dom had replaced Josh through the middle and Iain was playing opposite for Matt Wilkes and they we also missing Matt's organisational skills with Eastbourne moving in to a 9 - 2 lead. Following  strong words in a time out the Jets gradually pulled the lead back with much improved blocking, less mistakes and some great back court movement. Once the Jets got the score back to 14 - 14 the set never looked in any doubt and they ran out 25 - 18 winners. Bernard secured his fourth MVP and it was a great all round performance. Dan had another strong game as Libero, Martin covered a lot of court, both Matt L and Josh nailed some great middle hits and it was good to see Dom return to some form. A relatively early finish meant there was enough time to hit the Market Dinner on the way home.