Press Report 25-3-17

Girls dig deep to level up after early defeat

Both Dundee sides travel south of the river Forth with depleted sides that had damaging effects on their results.  The ladies were without three regular starters and Claire Pollock of Dundee University stepped up and into the side for their first game against NUVOC ll.  Agnes Bednarek started her first game after several as a substitute and resources were stretched as Natalia Stopohskt made her debut.    Both sides traded runs of points in the opening set as the Dundee side tried to settle into a new system.  Lucy Scouller and Natalia Stopohskt both scored early on as the visitors took a 22/18 lead.  A run of 5 points was given away with powerful serving from NUVOC, which forced errors from the Dundee attack and they ‘stole’ the set 25/23.      The second set followed a similar pattern with Dundee up 12/8 then the powerful serves of home side player Litia Ziduel took the score to 15/12 for her side.  Despite a determined performance from Lana Edgar who scored 5 points at the net it was the noisy home side that took the set 25/21.  It was Stopohskt , Lucy Wishart and Lana Edgar again who scored Dundee’s points to lead 13/10 but again NUVOC worked it back in their favour.  A big scoring block from Agnes Bednarek pulled the visitors back into the game but NUVOC had the ‘ace’ in Ziduel as her helped secure the 3/0 win taking the set 25/19.

After NUVOC ll had beaten Edinburgh University ll easily, it was Dundee up against the students.  Dundee’s superior accuracy and tactics from the service line proved important as they stormed to a 17/9 lead with Natalia Stopohskt and Lana Edgar both controlling the game.  A Lucy Scouller, Claire Pollock combination worked well to help win the first set 25/14.  The students had little to offer in attack as the visitors’ service was too powerful as they took the second set 25/17.

The die was cast for the third set with Lucy Wishart scoring 8 points and new ‘stars’ Bednarek and Stopohskt  both helping to win points in a 25/12 rout.  The win after the earlier defeat keeps the Dundee side in fourth place in League 1.

 

Heavy defeat for depleted mens team!

The mens’ side was handicapped by the loss of their playmaker and two big outside hitters, as they took on City of Edinburgh ll in their League 1 game.  The Dundee side opened with runs of points with Dave Bonnar and Leo Meugri in top form.  Dundee took the set 25/12 with minimum fuss.  The second set was following the same way until middle player Oz Dowie damaged his ankle in a net collision and the side had to re-adjust.  The effect was catastrophic as Edinburgh fought back to level the game wining 25/19.  There was no way back for Dundee as they found the disruption too severe and lost the next set 17/25 as Edinburgh were untroubled by Dundee’s dis-jointed attack.  The 4th set started better for the visitors with Mark Donnachie, playing his first game as the ‘setter’ started to combine well and Dundee had a slender lead at 10/8.  Confusion in the defensive area then cost Dundee as they slipped behind at 12/18.  Colin McEvoy and Craig Goldthorpe worked hard to keep their side in touch but the set and game slipped away 1/3 with a 16/25 loss.