Opponents: Coventry & Warwick Riga 1
Competition: National League Division 1
Date: Saturday 11th October 2008
Venue: Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry
Result: L 3-0 (20-25, 20-25, 17-25)
Headline: Docklands suffer Riga mortis
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball faced one of their biggest rivals Coventry & Warwick Riga at the weekend for the 25th time but came out a clear second best. It had started so well for Docklands after service pressure from Boris Halatchev and a series of Riga errors saw the visitors' storm into a 5-0 lead. They still held a five point advantage when Riga coach Tom Young called his first time out at 10-5 down. His stern words seemed to have the desired affect as his side cut out the unforced errors and put on their own pressure from the service box. Docklands contributed five of Riga's next six points in errors to swing the momentum back the home side's way. Docklands' captain Alexis Blair stopped the rot but Riga's tails were up and John Gilling set off on a service run to open up a four point lead. Docklands closed the gap to two points but consecutive Riga blocks took them away again and they sided out to a 25-20 first set win.

Docklands coach Ian Legrand brought on Jesse Kaptein and Adam El Kass to try and liven up his attack and the experienced pair battered and tipped their way into the match in equal measure. A kill by El Kass took Docklands 15-12 up and in buoyant mood they seemed on course to level the match. However, four consecutive Docklands' errors undid all their good work and handed the initiative back to Riga. A series of powerful kills by Riga's Chris Anderson and some more slack Docklands play took the set away from the London side and a smash by Riga veteran Kees De Hoogh sealed the second set 25-20.

Adam Phillips returned to Docklands' line-up and it was his block that saw his side go 5-3 up in the third set. But some varied attacking play by Riga and some inconsistent service from the Docklands passing unit allowed the home side to dominate again to lead 16-9. But Docklands were not giving up and some clever hitting from Wayne Davies and debutant Atanas Apostolov drew them back into the set. An ace by Halatchev brought Docklands back to within two points at 17-15 but a kill by De Hoogh steadied Riga's game and they didn't look back, out-scoring Docklands 8-2 at the end of the set to take it 25-17. Riga followed up this win with an away victory against London Lynx on Sunday to move to the top of the table.

After the stop-start nature of Docklands opening to the season they can now look forward to a home match next weekend against London rivals Polonia who themselves tasted defeat this weekend at the hands of City of Bristol.

Black Knight: Onno Bos

Docklands: Kaptein 4 kills (19 attempts), Davies 2 (8), Phillips 1 (2), Halatchev 1 (2), Bos 0 (7), Mills 2 (6), Gaitan 2 (5), El Kass 1 (7), Apostolov 1 (2), Blair 11 (31), Primus 0 (0), de Oliveira (Libero).

Warwick: Wyles 0 (2), De Hoogh 10 (28), Monti 1 (4), Rybarczyk 6 (18), Gilling 3 (9), Dieudji 0 (1), Anderson 12 (27), Turnbull 0 (1), Trench (Libero). Subs not used: Hudson, Young, Molinari.

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