Successful derby weekend for Men's C

After two successful matches

On Sunday 20th October the Men’s C team hit the No.1 court at Lundbystrandhallen for not one but two local derbies. We had a full squad consisting of Erik H (S), Abe (S), Bobby (OP), Chen (OP), Andre (MI), Henrik (MI), Adam (MI), Arvid (MI), Chao (OH), Jacob (OH), Ali (OH), Artem (OH), Dennis (L) and Aris (L). but were missing our team coach Thomas so were very grateful to Erik L who stepped out as coach for the day. At the end of the day we went home with two victories meaning that Men C now have four wins out of four and sit in first place in Division 3!

First up, we faced Göteborg VBK C, a well-trained youth team with some talented players. In the opening set we started quite poorly, with reception errors allowing Göteborg to build a lead before we got going. As the set went on, we pulled together to raise our level, making the game much more even. However, the early deficit was too much to make up and Göteborg won the set 25-19 In the second set we continued to build In confidence. Göteborg chose to switch out some of their starting players, and with our block and defense also better organized that gave us a strong base to raise the level of our play. Bobby put in a long serve series that took us to a big lead, and with some skillful attacks from our outsides, Chao and Jacob, we took home the set 25-9. In the third Gbg reverted to their starting lineup, but we were able to continue with targeted serve pressure to limit the opponents’ attacking options. We continued our good play and were able to take the set 25-23 to go into a 2-1 lead. The fourth set continued with the two teams keeping a high intensity. With the scoreline tight all the way up to 24-24 we traded set points and had the chance to claim the victory, but some errors crept into our play which allowed Gbg to edge the set 29-27 and level the match. Our team, however, immediately put aside the disappointment of missing out in the fourth set and started the fifth with strong and confident play. Already well ahead by the turnaround, we were able to dominate the final set 15-10 and take home an epic win. It was a hard fought match against a promising young team and a big positive was how we worked out the opposition to take control of the play after a shaky start. Our outside hitters took numerous points with smart and varied attacks, and Bobby (opposite) was voted MVP for consistently contributing kills throughout the match. While the middle connection didn’t fully click this time around, once their training performances transfer onto the match court we having the making of a formidable all-round offense.

Match report by Bobby

Second match started out better and while the third set got tight, it was a solid 3:0 win for our team. MVP of the match was once again Aris commenting on the match: "Det var en jämn match mot Majorna men vi höll energin uppe tillsammans och lyckades ta hem det! Bra spel"