Men's NVL Firsts Vs. Middlesbrough Mavericks
Sunday 14th January 2007
The University of Birmingham arrived on the weekend below full-strength. Three players were missing from our full line up - James Houston, Pawel Palak, and Varinder Mattri. It was known from Saturday morning that Houston and Palak could no longer make it, however the absence of first choice setter, Varinder Mattri, was somewhat of a mystery.
With the University's first choice setter missing, the responsibility fell to Pete Melia, our second choice, and Graham Fowler, our Coach. With Pete having a long time out over the Christmas break, he had not had the chance to get much game practice in, so for the first match, Graham Fowler took on the roll of setter.
The first set began well for UoB, with some excellent team play by all players. Strong blocking from our two middles, Olivo and Olie, along with powerful spikes from our wing hitters gave the University team the first set. In the second set, the University side began with an air of complacency and never looked as though everybody was working together. Crucial setting errors and wayward hitting caused UoB to give away the set far too leniently.
UoB picked up the tempo for the third and fourth set with Huddleston and Singer making some powerful spikes and Birmingham's middle players making some effective blocking to cut out Middlesbrough’s strong attack. The setting improved drastically from Fowler and the University side fought hard to edge out a well deserved win.
Match Facts
Competition: EVA National League Division IIIN.
Played: Away.
Result: Won 3-1.
Set Scores: 16-25, 25-11, 19-25, 22-25.