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Opponents: Malory Competition: National League Division 1 Date: Saturday 6th December 2008 Venue: Bacon's College, Rotherhithe Result: L 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 12-25, 12-15) |
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London Docklands Volleyball played their 300th competitive match at the weekend and there couldn't have been a more fitting opponent for the occasion. Docklands and Malory have enjoyed a fierce rivalry ever since the old Malory 2 side was disbanded to be replaced by Docklands for the 1994/95 season. Docklands had to wait until the 1996/97 season to play Malory for the first time and then it was over six years before they could claim their first win. They have played a total of 27 times, the most frequent Docklands' fixture, including three cup finals, two of which were won by Docklands. Ian Legrand's side were hoping to build on their two consecutive wins but knew that the league champions would be much tougher opposition. It was Malory who started the brighter whilst Docklands made some nervous errors to help the visitors take a 9-3 lead. Docklands fought back with kills by Wayne Davies and Alexis Blair but the same pair would soon undo some of their good work as Malory's 10-7 lead quickly became 14-8. Even though Docklands started having some blocking success Malory strolled to a 25-17 first set win. Docklands started set two more positively with blocks by Boris Halatchev and Blair taking them 4-1 up. But Malory slowly closed the gap and two Docklands' errors in a row saw Malory lead for the first time at 12-10. However, Malory could not capitalise on their advantage and successive blocks by Alex Gaitan and Jesse Kaptein saw Docklands go 18-15 up. Malory dug deep but Docklands battled to maintain their lead with critical kills by Blair and Davies leading Docklands to a 25-22 second set win. Malory came out fighting at the start of the third set, taking an early lead with two blocks by Dan Westphal. The sideout games of both sides then dominated as Docklands' captain Blair and Malory's Darius Setsoafia stood out in the duels at the net. A kill by Docklands old boy Aaron Stolberg, one of three playing survivors from the first ever Docklands-Malory fixture, took his side 15-11 ahead and seemingly in control of the set. But then a block by Blair on Stolberg and two more Blair points (a backcourt kill and an ace) saw Docklands back in it and with the momentum behind the home side they charged their way into an 18-16 lead after Gaitan shut out Jeff Rand. However, Docklands' lead was short lived when two kills by Setsoafia tied the scores at 20-20. But a rare Malory error was then pounced on by Blair who smashed two points to give Docklands a healthy cushion at 23-20. Setsoafia struck back and a Docklands error put the set back in the balance. But after a Docklands' time out, Davies rose to give his side their first set point. Setsoafia breached Docklands' defences again but he then put his serve an inch long to give Docklands a 25-23 victory. Surprisingly only three of the previous 27 matches had gone to five sets but right from the start of the fourth set it was clear that the Docklands crowd were in for a fifth set shoot out. Docklands gave up several clusters of points as Malory's attack and block dictated play. In the end they eased to a 25-12 fourth set win and crucially had all the momentum going into the deciding set. Malory maintained their pressure and dominated from the start of set five. A block by England legend Richard Dobell on Blair set the scene in the very first point and two further blocks combined with some slack Docklands' play saw Malory lead 8-2 as the teams changed ends. Legrand called a time out and encouraged his side to front up, "It isn't going to be easy but we just have to do what Malory have just done", he said. It seemed very unlikely at that point but after a clever shot by Mohammed Sliti was followed up by a Davies block and an error by Rand, suddenly the pressure was back on Malory. A Malory time out helped regain their composure but after two consecutive Docklands' points they were back in with a chance at 10-8 down. After Stolberg had responded for Malory, Blair and Halatchev scored for Docklands to pull it back to one point, 11-10 to Malory. Malory had "won" the first part of the set 8-2 but Docklands had come back, winning the next part of the set 8-3 - Legrand's demand had almost come off. In tight matches, spectators will often remember certain points and believe that they were the ones that decided the ultimate result. However, in some cases the fact is we will never know. There then came such a point. A powerful smash by Rand was dramatically kept up by a combination of Riccardo Senatore and Sliti, and it was left to Blair to return the ball to Malory. However, his volley found the top of the net, gifting Malory the point. Docklands' agony was compounded after a passing error gave Malory a free ball which Mark Brown gratefully returned to take Malory 13-10 up and within touching distance of victory. It was then Rand's turn to be the centre of attention. He blasted two smashes out to give Docklands hope but then made amends to bring up Malory's first match point. Sadly for Docklands it was all they needed as Sliti found the Malory block to give them a 15-12 win. Legrand said afterwards, "That was a great chance for us but we just fell short. I saw some encouraging performances today and I'm confident we can take this forward into the next crucial phase of matches." Indeed, next up for Docklands are London Lynx 1 who this weekend suffered a shock home defeat at the hands of Reading. This match was Boris Halatchev's 100th appearance for Docklands, making him the ninth player to reach that landmark. Docklands: Davies 9 kills (34 attempts), Blair 19 (42), Halatchev 3 (16), Mills 1 (2), Bos 0 (0), Gaitan 4 (9), Apostolov 1 (2), Kaptein 4 (8), Sliti 9 (25), Senatore (Libero). Malory: Westphal 1 (3), Brown 9 (16), Stolberg 12 (33), Rand 10 (37), Dobell 2 (7), Setsoafia 16 (29), Omoshebi 1 (2), King 1 (5), Hori 0 (0), Fee (Libero). Sub not used: Williams. Black Knight: Mohammed Sliti
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