Volleyball Centre of Excellence
Richmond Docklands completed their regular season Super8s home fixtures in front of a boisterous home crowd but despite a strong opening they could not secure a surprise victory over league leaders Team Northumbria.
Richmond Docklands travelled the five hours back from Newcastle on Sunday with no tangible reward from a long weekend of volleyball action. Luis Bello’s side at times again demonstrated the good form that they’ve shown this season and gained set points against the two best teams in the country but unfortunately lacked the consistency required to mount a sustained challenge at this level.
Richmond Docklands’ KO cup campaign came to an abrupt end in the quarter finals against a strong Sheffield side. Luis Bello’s team travelled with only eight players and without a regular opposite player. Joaquin Bello stepped up to the challenge opposite his brother Javier and did a great job but a high error count cost Docklands against a clinical Sheffield team.
After two magnificent wins last weekend, Richmond Docklands maintained their momentum in 2018 to register their sixth Super8s victory of the season. In doing so they did the league double over Wessex and retained third place in the table.
London Lynx were the first of two visitors to try and prolong Richmond Docklands’ worrying three-match losing streak – in fact the home side hadn’t won a Super8s league match since the reverse fixture way back on 4th November.
Yet despite the long holiday break and just a few training sessions to knock the rust off, coaching duo Luis Bello and Andy Hopper’s side stormed out of the gates and took the first set of 2018 with ease, running out 25-15 winners.
