With the first match of the fixture out of the way, the team had a good 30 minute break before the first serve against Harriers. We opted to continue with the same line-up as the first match only we flipped the starting positions for both James Chapman and Jack Nash.
The team lined up as follows:
Setter: Liam Chinnery (Captain/Coach)
Opposite: Chester Searle
Left Side: Craig Lawrie, Aaron Jones
Middle Blockers: James Chapman, Jack Nash
The game started well with the Captain losing the toss but getting the opportunity to serve first!
Our game plan was simple. Keep getting better! It was clear that match fitness would become an issue with the small group of players. Fatigue would play a big part in this match and as long as we were prepared to be more tolerant of the errors made we’d come out smelling like roses!
The first 10 points established a few scouting points of the opposition.
It was clear that the opposition’s middle attack wasn’t as big a threat as that in the previous match. Harriers had two good pass-hitters and a very tall opposite player. The setter was solid but was standing in due to an injury to their starting setter in their first match of the fixture. The libero was solid and while they showed three receivers they mostly used two players to pass during the match.
The service plan was established and we quickly got into our flow. The first set went to plan with us taking it convincingly.
We stood toe to toe with the Harriers and alternated sets won and lost. At the toss for serve in the fifth set the win was one with the coin toss!
The Harriers got off to a quick start establishing a 5-2 lead in the first set. We came back with some brilliant play as well as some opposition errors. Harriers got to the turn with an 8-7 lead. We fought hard to claw it back and got to 11-10. Faced with the opposition’s strongest hitter lined up against Tendring’s weakest block, Chinnery flipped the block and sent Lawrie out to the right side to block. The gamble proved a tricky one when an opposition continuation saw Lawrie forced to set the ball to Chinnery which he capably put away with a cheeky roll over the middle blocker into the hole.
12-10
12-11
13-11
13-12
14-12
15-12
Bosh.
Done.
MVP Craig Lawrie