Close victory for men against Forza
Dundee’s men team faced a difficult early season challenge with Forza Ragazzi the visitors to Craigie High School last Saturday. The Glasgow side was relegated from the premier league at the end of last season and opened up the first set with some impressive play to take a 12/6 lead. The Dundee side were having difficulty scoring any runs of points as the visitors moved onto 18/12. A hitting error from Forza gave Dundee the 13th point and Aus Dowie stepped up to the service line. The confident, efficient visitors attack suddenly fell apart as they made 3 errors, Rad Marinov scored 2 net blocks and then he hit a point in counter-attack to give Dundee a 19/18 lead. Both sides traded points and Forza led 23/22. A tactical switch allowed Dundee to score 2 points to hold set point but the visitors hit back to level but Mike Coward hit the final point to take the set 26/24.
Neither side could establish any great lead in the second set with 14/11 for Forza the furthest either side could pull ahead. Mike Coward and Abertay student, Tony Gadzhev, were Dundee’s big scorers as they pulled away to lead 22/20. Forza were gifted 2 points but Gadzhev and Rad Marinov both scored to give Dundee the set 25/23.
The Glasgow side changed their line-up and again were in the lead throughout the set. Dundee’s trio of Coward, Marinov and Gadzhev kept their tam within touching distance but Forza led 22/18. Mike Coward was the only scorer in the next 6 points as Forza had a 1 point lead at 23/22. Dave Bonnar scored a service ‘ace’ then Lewis Crockart and Tony Gadzhev a net block to increase the pressure on the visitors. They could not cope and hit the final ball into the net to give Dundee the set 25/23 and the games 3 sets to 0!