Opponents: City of Bristol Competition: National KO Cup Semi Final Date: Saturday 17th March 2007 Venue: Keele University Result: W 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-23) Headline: Docklands keep double dream alive Author: Andy Hopper
London Docklands Volleyball have reached the National KO Cup final for the second year in a row and will again face their greatest rivals London Malory. Both sides enjoyed reasonably comfortable semi final wins at Keele University while the final in Sheffield in just over a month is expected to be a much closer match. Docklands will be hoping to avenge last year's cup final defeat but it won't be easy against a Malory side aiming for their 15th cup title.
Docklands faced City of Bristol in the second men's semi final. The West Country side had been on fire at the start of season but since Docklands beat a depleted Bristol team in November their league challenge has slipped away. However, after narrowly losing out to Malory at the same stage last season Bristol were keen to reach their first final since they won the cup in 1986 when the club was known as Speedwell.
Bristol started strongly as service pressure from Docklands old boy Artur Kwiecinski caused problems in a nervous Docklands' passing unit. Docklands' errors and a thunderous shot from Bristol's main hitter Jiri Petrash saw them go 4-0 up. However, after an equally powerful shot by Dejan Miladinovic, Albrecht Glitz went back to serve. He aced Bristol libero Mike McCarthy twice, demonstrating his intentions early and tied the scores. The momentum was all with Docklands as two blocks in a row by Boris Halatchev and Danny Primus took Docklands four points ahead. Although they couldn't extend it they were able to prevent Bristol making any inroads as kills by Mohammed Sliti, Glitz and Halatchev kept them at bay. Docklands continued to frustrate the Bristol defence with their varied attack and they strolled to a 25-18 first set win.
Docklands came out of the blocks in a hurry in the second set with two consecutive blocks by Glitz on Petrash followed by two kills by Miladinovic. They maintained this pressure and looked comfortable until a couple of errors and a block on Glitz forced coach Ian Legrand to call his first time out of the match with the scores tied at 17-17. His side responded with a Halatchev block and two Glitz kills to restore Docklands' advantage. This seemed to deflate the Bristol players and Docklands closed out the set 25-21.
A Glitz service run at the start of set three saw Docklands go 4-0 up and seemingly on their way to the final. The sequence included a rally that had ten phases before Glitz finished it off. However, Bristol were not deterred and some tenacious play took them 10-7 up. But the combination of Glitz and Halatchev dragged Docklands back into the set and with support from Miladinovic they were back in front at 16-14. Legrand introduced Neil Masters to try and stabilise the Docklands service receive. Using all his experience he did just that but a kill from him sparked a run of five points to take Docklands 21-16 up. However, Bristol were not giving up and a block on Glitz and two points from Petrash saw them back in touch. Miladinovic restored Docklands lead at 22-20 and both sides exchanged points until Docklands gained their first match point with a block by Halatchev. He then had a swing for the match but could only find the net. However, he redeemed himself in the next rally with a clinical smash to take his side into their third cup final.
Afterwards, captain Halatchev said, "Everyone did well today and it was a real team effort. But I'm happy to take the Black Knight." Legrand agreed, "The whole team did a good job today and we never really allowed them to find their own rhythm. It was a professional performance without being too flash. But at this stage of a competition the win is all that matters."
By the time
of the final on April 21st the league title will have been decided. With
Docklands and Malory the only two sides who can win that crown, one of
the finalists will be chasing the Double. Docklands are in pole position
in the league at the moment and will be hoping to secure one of the two
wins they require against Cambridge next Saturday at Bacon's College.
Docklands: Miladinovic 15 kills (30 attempts), Halatchev 3 (5), Masters 1 (2), Blake 4 (7), Glitz 17 (32), Sliti 6 (21), Primus 1 (4), Blair (Libero). Subs not used: Eruero, Pasquini, Ruh.
Bristol: Pierce 0 (0), Polkingthorne 2 (5), Kwiecinski 5 (10), Sullivan 4 (10), Petrash 14 (27), Miedzybroozke 9 (36), Musalimov 2 (7), Burt 0 (3), Palancevics 1 (7), McCarthy (Libero).
Black Knight: Boris Halatchev