News
Richmond's missed opportunity
14th Dec 2009
Richmond NVL men failed to make the most of their chances and remain 4th in the National League Division Two having suffered their 3rd defeat of the season in a thrilling game against London Knights at Kingston Arena. Things didn’t get any better as outside hitter Michael Ghelfi rolled his ankle early on and sat out the rest of the game.
Back on court, Knights opened the 1st set with quick sets and Richmond responded slowly. At the start of the 2nd set there was some brilliant blocking by the home side which inspired the team to take the set. The momentum continued in the 3rd going ahead 15-11 but mid-way through the set Richmond struggled to execute the ball which was retrieved excellently by Knights defence. At the start of the fourth Richmond failed to trade points due to misunderstanding by the passing unit and stopped any hope of recovery despite a final charge in the final stages to the close the game.
The defeat leaves Richmond in joint-fourth position in the National League Division 2 tied on 6 wins and 3 losses with Wessex VC. Although promotion to the top National League Division looks unrealistic this year, the new top National League Structure for 2010-11 enforced by Volleyball England will be renamed to the ‘Super 8 League’ with two teams from division 1 automatically relegated. The restructure will also see the current National Division 2 drop to ten teams (from 12) and become the new Division 1.
Richmond Coach Rijvers commented: The significance for Richmond Volleyball is that we need to finish this season in the top six to bring National League Division 1 volleyball next season to Kingston.
In three years the team will have achieved back-to-back promotions.
If we achieved this, it will be a great success for the players, club and fans. We still have a lot of work to do and all to play for so please come and support Richmond Volleyball at our next home games in the New Year at Kingston College Arena.
Final Result: Richmond Volleyball [1] v London Knights VC [3]
Set Results: 21-25; 25-22; 22-25; 22-25
Richmond's Player of the Match::
Team List:
P.Ceglowski, G.Scatigna-Gianfagna (cpt), M.Ghelfi, D.Cleather, T.Lasocki, L.Tomášek, T.Stepien; M.Sokolowski, Y. Zdorovcov, A.Kornilov, R.Bachor, D.Nehrebecki; A.De Souza, D.Rijvers (Coach)
Back to News 2009
| 
