Opponents: Malory
Competition: National League Division 1
Date: Saturday 12th April 2008
Venue: Raynes Park School
Result: L 3-1 (19-25, 26-28, 26-24, 19-25)
Headline: Malory complete revenge over Docklands
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball completed their national league season with a match against old rivals Malory. This was the third time Docklands and Malory had closed out their season together. In 2003 the match was a winner takes all affair with Malory snatching the league title from under the noses of Docklands. The final league match of last season was a warm-up for the cup final and even though Malory prevailed in the league, Docklands recovered a week later to seal a league and cup double. So it was inevitable that the Volleyball England fixtures computer would set up an encounter between these two teams on the final league weekend in the expectation that it would have some impact on the destination of the title. Events in the week which saw Sheffield deducted points for an admin error meant that this match was not going to affect the final outcome of the league but any Docklands/Malory fixture is always one of the highlights of the season and both teams did not disappoint.

The match couldn't have started better for Docklands with Alex Gaitan rising to kill the first ball and Danny Primus scoring an ace with his first serve. Primus, captaining his side for the 100th time, is a veteran of these clashes, playing in his 18th Docklands/Malory match. He was able to run his offence effectively from the start, with his middles Gaitan and Adam Phillips enjoying great success against England Internationals Alex Bialokoz and Mark Brown. However, Docklands were unable to gain a significant lead and a run of serves by Andy Carr saw Malory take an 11-8 lead, prompting Docklands coach Ian Legrand to call his first time out. His side fought back to be on level terms by 13-13 with Dejan Miladinovic starting to find his range after missing all but the last two weekends of the season. But all the good work was wasted after two unforced errors by Docklands saw Malory sneak ahead again. And making use of all their experience, Malory made their advantage count as Docklands felt the pressure. In the end a kill by Hamish Drummond saw Malory win 25-19.

Set two followed a similar pattern to the first set with the scores level till 15-15. However, this time it was Docklands who turned up the pressure as Nathan French showed why he is one of England's brightest prospects. The 17 year old produced a run of four serves, including two aces that took Docklands 20-15 up. Malory sided out but the flamboyant Enrico Savoia kept Docklands' momentum going and a Malory error saw Docklands' lead reach 22-16. Docklands should have been able to close out the set but just as they were reaching the winners post they pressed the self destruct button. Three consecutive errors gave Malory hope and suddenly the pressure was all on Docklands. Malory's Simon Loftus was proving the thorn in Docklands' side as he produced another kill to tie the set at 23-23. Miladinovic smashed his way to Docklands' first set point and two more would follow only for Malory to save them all. Then a kill by Loftus and two Docklands' errors gave the set to Malory 28-26.

Docklands were devastated while Malory were obviously jubilant and began the third set on a high with two blocks on Savoia. But Docklands hung on and were still in the set at 21-19 down. Then two consecutive blocks by Gaitan and Phillips and an ace by Gaitan saw Docklands steal ahead. Miladinovic added to Malory's woes and Docklands had their first set point at 24-23. Ivan Zamprianov hit his way through the Docklands' block to save it but French responded to gain a second set point. And this time Docklands didn't need another chance as Primus shut out Zamprianov to seal a 26-24 win.

Malory were clearly stung and came out fighting at the start of the fourth set. With all their team over 30 and some in their forties they would not relish a fifth set shoot out against their more youthful rivals. Using all their experience and guile the 18 time champions started to pull away as Malory got to 21-12 before Docklands really started playing. But then a deceptive service run by Primus coupled with kills by Savoia saw Docklands creep back into the set to get to 22-18. However, Docklands' comeback ran out of steam as Malory checked their progress and took the set 25-19.

Legrand said afterwards, "It's always a disappointing way to end the season but we showed glimpses of what we can do, we just need to find some more consistency and learn again how to close out sets. In some ways this match summed up our season with some very good highs but some very bad lows also. We're looking forward to a good break and then plan to hit the ground running for our pre-season programme."

Black Knight: Nathan French

Docklands: Miladinovic 10 kills (28 attempts), Phillips 6 (14), French 15 (33), Savoia 13 (31), Gaitan 6 (13), Primus 0 (5), Blair (Libero). Subs not used: Grandolfo, Riginelli.

Malory: Westphal 4 (5), Brown 7 (16), Drummond 7 (15), Carr 9 (21), Dobell 2 (7), Loftus 13 (28), Bialokoz 9 (16), Williams 0 (0), Zamprianov 3 (10), Lucas (Libero). Subs not used: Fee, Hori.

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