Newcastle (Staffs) vs Boathouse Dewsbury
National Volleyball League Division 1
10/12/11
Keele University

Newcastle (Staffs) 3-0 Boathouse Dewsbury
25-19, 25-23, 25-23

After successive defeats in the league and cup, which saw the team drop their first NVL sets of the season and have their lead at the top pegged back, 'Castle were almost back at full strength for this match. In the two defeats squads of only 8 players were available but with Stew Ross back from injury, Dave Lovell back involved after the birth of his first child, and the addition of second teamers Nafioglu and Williams 'Castle had 12 players available but were still missing the early season star Richard Yates who last played in October.

Boathouse are a strong outfit whose league position does not reflect well on the talent in their squad, which is primarily made up of former England Junior and Sheffield players. Indeed 'Castle were happy to see that two of these players, setter Dave Roberts and middle Craig Richardson were not in the squad for this game. It was however another of these players Anthony Hignett who played a significant role in the first set with solid blocking in the opposite role to stem the tide of attacks of Bradbury and Shenton. Meszczynski was proving to be as strong an outside hitter as any that 'Castle had faced this season and he bombed some big kills cross court early on, only for 'Castle to switch their block alignment but he then burried the ball down the line. This showed it was going to be a competitive match, and 'Castle responded well thanks in a large part to the connection Sam Allen was having with Shenton and Bradbury to use the back row attack to open up the Boathouse block. As the set went on 'Castle's game settled further and through targetted serving at Bussey the opposition attack was weakened meaning 'Castle took it 25-19.

In the second set Lovell stuck with the same line-up, leaving 22 year old Allen as the elder statesman on court. 17 year olds Shenton, Ross and McKellar were all enjoying success from the start, but yet again Boathouse were able to stay in touch. Their middle threat was imbalanced but when the stronger player was at the net it was proving highlty effective. 'Castle's Roberts made a brief cameo before confusion in the substitution zone meant McKellar mistakenly re-entered the court much to the frustration of Roberts and Lovell. Despite this disturbance to the team 'Castle hung on to a hold off a fight back from the visitors and take the set 25-23.

The third set saw 'Castle's variation in attack decline worryingly as both setters consistently resorted to pumping the ball out to the left side, allowing Boathouse to form a well strcutred block and defence. Roberts was in the line-up to add experience to the court and ultimately it was the grit that 'Castle had learned in the away match at Solent the week before that made the difference as they again won 25-23 to take yet another match in straight sets.

Squad:
Allen, Bradbury, Heath, Jenkins, Lovell, McKellar, Nafioglu, Roberts, Ross, Saward, Shenton, Williams