News
A perfect start for St Mary's
23rd October 2007
St Mary’s University College Men’s Volleyball team started their campaign BUSA 2A League match fixture away with a narrow 3-2 win against league favourites Royal Holloway.
The students started well in the first set leading the set by 10-7 with strong blocking dominating the set 25-18. The 2nd set the students started brightly again scoring 10 points on his serve and double blocking by Justin Robertson and Evan Penglis helped the team to control the set.
The third set proved a bit more difficult for the students as the opposition worked tirelessly on their defence and retrieved many powerful hits from Tiago
Oliveria. Royal Holloway sensed St Mary’s lack of killer instinct which demoralised the students and an error in the final stages gave Royal Holloway the 3rd set (26-24).
Losing the 3rd was a blow to the young students and this showed in their poor concentration and intensity. St Mary’s captain Justin Robertson (setter) continued to drive St Mary’s hitters inspiring them belief to win. Although the students lost the 4th set there were moments of very good controlled volleyball edging the team on!
It was all to play for in the 5th and St Mary’s gave their all in a tremendous physical and mental effort. They forced themselves into the lead 6-3 with steady setting by Justin Robertson and Jamie powering the ball through the block. Evan Penglis continued his strong serving and served the only ace of match taking the set to 11-7. A vital time for St Mary’s! The students continued to control the net with
a stuff block and closed the set 15-13.
St Mary’s Head Coach David Rijvers from Richmond Volleyball commented that he was pleased for the team to win this game. Losing the 3rd and 4th and then winning the 5th showed good character. The team is young and improving so much
and will make mistakes. We now have to learn and minimize this. The team will build confidence from this result and will work hard towards a positive result in their next BUSA fixture.
Team List:
Final Result: St Mary’s University College [3] v Royal Holloway [2]
Set Results:
St Mary's Player of the Match:: Justin Robertson
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