Opponents: Wandsworth White Eagles
Competition: National KO Cup Round 2
Date: Saturday 15th November 2008
Venue: Bacon's College, Rotherhithe
Result: W 3-0 (25-8, 25-13, 25-18)
Headline: Eagles grounded by Docklands
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball began their 2008-09 KO Cup campaign at the weekend against non-League Wandsworth White Eagles. Docklands faced White Eagles in the KO cup quarters on their way to the 2006 final when they were comfortable 3-0 winners but after a poor run of league results Docklands coach Ian Legrand was taking nothing for granted. In the end Legrand needn't have worried as Docklands dominated their London League rivals in a one-sided contest.

Sets one and two followed very similar patterns with Docklands opening up 5-0 leads at the start of both sets. Strong serving by Boris Halatchev and Alexis Blair coupled with blocks by Onno Bos and Alex Gaitan put early pressure on the visitors and Docklands were able to dictate play from the start. In the first set Docklands only rotated once as another service run by Halatchev helped close out the set 25-8. In the second set Legrand started to use his bench bringing in Atanas Apostolov for Matt Mills just after Mills had scored his seventh kill. Apostolov relished his opportunity, making some clever plays and scoring two aces as Docklands closed out the set 25-13.

Legrand's squad has recently been hit by injuries to key squad members and the club were also hit this week by the departure of Adam Phillips. So it was good timing that Docklands had this match to give some valuable court time to their squad. Another to benefit was new arrival Riccardo Senatore who used his wide selection of shots and agile defence to good effect. He also produced two blocks, the first of which took his side 9-4 ahead in the third set. Docklands continued to control the game and a kill by Jesse Kaptein stretched their lead to 19-12. But three White Eagles' blocks in quick succession helped give them hope at 20-18 down. Captain Blair restored order and three consecutive errors by White Eagles gifted Docklands match point. Senatore showed off his footballing skills to keep the ball alive and Blair put away the ball to seal a 25-18 third set win.

Docklands will next face London Lynx 2 in the third round in January. Meanwhile Docklands return to league action in a must win encounter with Reading on Sunday 30th November.

Black Knight: Matt Mills

Docklands: Davies 4 kills (7 attempts), Halatchev 3 (5), Bos 4 (9), Mills 7 (10), Gaitan 4 (9), Kaptein 2 (4), Apostolov 4 (9), Senatore 2 (7), Blair 9 (14), de Oliveira (Libero).

White Eagles: Johnson 1 (4), Mullings 2 (6), McConney 3 (9), Paliswiat 0 (1), Van Heel 3 (14), Martinez 2 (5), Hagler 0 (2), Bloemeke 1 (5), Jenkinson (Libero).

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