Opponents: Malory
Competition: National League Division 1
Date: Saturday 4th April 2009
Venue: Ernest Bevin SC
Result: L 3-1 (20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25)
Headline: Docklands push Malory all the way
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball completed their National League season with an interesting contest against old foes Malory. After Docklands secured their position in Division 1 last weekend and with Malory unable to rise above their third place both sides were just playing for pride. This will be only the third time in over 20 years that Malory have failed to win the league title and the first time they've finished below second place. However, they still have a cup final against Sheffield to look forward to and were looking to use their last competitive match as a valuable warm-up for their eighteenth final appearance. Docklands welcomed back captain Alexis Blair and he was brought into the starting line-up along with Wayne Davies. Docklands started slowly, but two disputed Malory rotation faults in a row, followed by a yellow card for captain Richard Dobell, saw Docklands take the lead at 5-3. A block by Alex Gaitan on Darius Setsoafia consolidated his side's lead at 10-9 but that would prove to be the last time Docklands were in front in set one. Malory have some renowned older players but it was their youngest athletes Mark Richardson and Setsoafia that started to have the greatest influence on the game with both scoring seemingly at will. Two aces in a row by Richardson took Malory 19-14 ahead and there was no way back for Docklands. In the end, Docklands saved two set points but had left it too late as a serving error gave Malory a 25-20 first set win.

Docklands' coach Ian Legrand switched his side's formation at the start of set two, moving Yassir Sliti to opposite and bringing in his brother Mohammed on the outside. The switch worked to begin with as Docklands kept pace with their hosts until the score reached 13-13. Then three consecutive Docklands' errors gifted Malory the lead which they would not relinquish. Despite a clinical block by Yassir Sliti on fellow England international Steve Fee, Malory maintained their control on the set and eventually ran out winners 25-19.

For set three Legrand made one final change, introducing 19-year old setter Marc Schaepertoens. Docklands were keen that this was not to be their final set of the season and after a cautious start they began to play with more confidence and took the game to the home side. A service run by Yassir Sliti put pressure on Malory's passing unit and Docklands turned an 8-5 deficit into a 9-8 lead. After a short run of Blair serves Docklands were two points up and seemed in the mood to extend their season further. Another two rotation errors by Malory gave Docklands some more free points and two kills by Blair and Yassir Sliti stretched their lead to 19-13. Two rare blocks by Blair helped stall a potential Malory recovery and a stunning block by Boris Halatchev on Fee brought up Docklands first set point. It took Docklands four attempts to take the match into a fourth set when Mohammed Sliti scored off the Malory block.

This was the 29th match between the two sides, the most frequent Docklands fixture, and Malory have won the last three games. They were in no mood to face the lottery of a fifth set and started set four on fire with Setsoafia scoring three consecutive points to punish a shell shocked Docklands. The visitors managed to slow down Malory's charge until mid way through the set but then another series of kills from Richardson and Fee stretched their lead to 23-15. But then an error by Setsoafia brought Yassir Sliti back to serve and he delivered a varied sequence of jump serves to give Docklands hope. Another Halatchev block on Fee coupled with an ace and a back court kill by Sliti reduced Malory's lead to four points. Richardson powered his way through the Docklands block to set up his side's first match point but Docklands were not giving up. With the help of some dramatic defence by Matt Mills and Schaepertoens the Sliti brothers took over, scoring two points each to save four match points, forcing Malory coach Jefferson Williams to call a time out with his side only one point up at 24-23. Another tough serve by Blair limited Dobell's options but he fed the ball to Setsoafia who miss-hit his smash through the Docklands' block to seal the match 3-1.

Afterwards Legrand summed up the match and season, "In some ways this match was a mini version of the season. At times we showed how well we can play, whilst dramatically lowering our level at other stages in the game. We need to reach a much higher level of consistency and then we can start to challenge again. I think we've shown enough quality over the season to give me hope and with a solid summer of conditioning work I think we can return to fight for the title."

So Docklands' eighth consecutive season in Division 1 comes to an end. Their eighth placed finish is their lowest since the 1999-00 season when they were relegated in ninth place. They saw ten new players become Docklands players, easily the largest number of debuts since the team's first season. And after using four different liberos and three setters Legrand will be hoping to establish a more settled squad over the summer.

Docklands: Davies 2 kills (6 attempts), Schaepertoens 0 (0), Halatchev 4 (10), Hitchcock 0 (0), Senatore 0 (0), Gaitan 0 (2), Blake 1 (5), M Sliti 6 (20), Blair 10 (23), Y Sliti 20 (43), Mills (Libero).

Malory: Brown 6 (8), Fee 6 (24), Rand 0 (2), Richardson 18 (33), Dobell 1 (3), Setsoafia 9 (19), Omoshebi 2 (4), Westphal 3 (5). Subs not used: Stolberg, Williams, King.

Black Knight: Marc Schaepertoens

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