Opponents: London Aquila Lynx
Competition: National League Division 1
Date: Saturday 22nd October 2005
Venue: Lister School
Result: 3-1 Win (25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19)
Headline: Docklands weather storm against Aquila
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball battled to victory in the east London derby against Aquila Lynx, a result that maintained their lead at the top of the National League Division 1 ahead of the top versus second clash next weekend. Aquila's form so far this season had been erratic; they had secured two away victories before Saturday but had failed to win a set at their new home venue, Lister School in the shadow of West Ham's Upton Park ground. However, results elsewhere meant that they held third place in the league at the start of the weekend.

Aquila made two important foreign signings in the summer; Wilco Burghout and Eduardo Ribeiro enhancing their attacking power. However, it was a service run by Terence Chibula that got the home side off to the best possible start. The Docklands passing unit seemed unable to pick up the flight of his jump serves and Aquila raced into a 7-0 lead. A service error let Docklands back in and a service run from Albrecht Glitz brought the score back to 8-6 before Aquila took their first time out. Points from Chibula and Antonio Codrington helped Aquila hold onto their advantage until Glitz came round to serve again. Two more aces from him and a block by Boris Halatchev saw Docklands take a 17-15 lead. Docklands' come back seemed to upset Aquila's confidence as Docklands powered their way to a 25-20 first set win.

Docklands carried forward their momentum into the second set and stormed into an 8-1 lead after service runs from Andy Vincett and Glitz. However, a run of deceptive float serves by Codrington helped pull Aquila back into the set forcing Docklands coach Ian Legrand to call his first time only 10-9 up. Docklands regained control and with Glitz unstoppable at the net the visitors took the set 25-23.

The third set began in a similar way to the second with Vincett producing a string of powerful jump serves to help his side gain a 6-1 advantage. However, a combination of Aquila upping the pace and Docklands relaxing too much saw Aquila force their way back into the set and they led 14-11 when Legrand took his first time out. Docklands recovered to tie the scores at 14-14 but a series of Docklands' errors and a battling performance from Aquila, particularly by veteran Stuart Fullerton, saw the home side take the set 25-20.

Legrand demanded a more clinical display from his players and his team responded with a more mature performance. This was demonstrated by the fact that Docklands had to be patient for their chance as it was not until a run of tricky float serves from Mohammed Sliti, disrupting the Aquila pass, that they were able to open up a crucial three point gap at 11-8. Docklands were then able to apply more pressure and after Glitz had finished serving his side were 20-11 up. Docklands could then coast to a 25-19 fourth set victory and with it completed their sixth win in a row.

After the match coach Legrand was pleased with the win, commenting, "Aquila are never an easy team to play against and you can never take them lightly. We had to dig deep today and I am pleased we were able to find that bit extra to take the points. This next week will be critical for our season but I am confident we can produce the goods again." Indeed, Docklands can now look forward to next weekend's match against their closest rivals, London Malory, in a match that could have a huge bearing on the destination of this year's championship.

Docklands: Vincett 0 kills (5 attempts), Halatchev 3 (8), Inglot 11 (27), Blake 0 (3), Primus 0 (0), Sliti 6 (32), Glitz 21 (39), Eruero 3 (9), Ruh (Libero). Subs not used: Jump, Masters.

Aquila Lynx: Codrington 2 (11), Hassani 2 (12), Ribeiro 6 (19), Rijvers 2 (9), Burghout 6 (10), El Achkar 3 (16), Chibula 7 (21), Wilson 3 (7), Fullerton 1 (8), Merceir (Libero).

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