Long games and sore loses!

26 November V  Su Ragazzi ll         Edinburgh University ll / NUVOC ll         

Men V Ragazzi ll

There was aguish and despair in two of the three games at Craigie High School last Saturday as both men and women lost out in 5 set thrillers.  The men were on first against Su Ragazzi ll for their third meeting of the season and neither side was able to open up any points gap.  Mike Coward and Louis Groshenry were keeping the home side in the game as they hammered the Ragazzi defence.  Errors were a crucial factor in the outcome of the set as Dundee took the advantage with set point at 24/23.  A service error and a service ace gave Ragazzi their first set point at 25/24. Groshenry levelled the scores and a Ragazzi error gave Dundee another set point at 26/25 but sloppy play allowed the visitors to take the set 28/26.  The second set followed a similar pattern until Ragazzi took a crucial 20/19 lead with a run of 4 points.  Leo Maugeri, Mike Coward and Oz Dowie hauled them back into the set to level winning 25/20.  Dundee maintained their pressure and ,with middle hitters Colin McEvoy and Oz Dowie winning 9 points, it was Dundee who won the third set 25/23.

The visitors responded with pressure from the service line forcing the Dundee attack into errors and  they fell behind at 6/12.  A late rally forcing the Ragazzi side into off speed attacks helped Dundee close the gap but the Glasgow side held on to win 25/21.

The final set was point for point until Su sneaked ahead at 12/9.  Coward, Maugeri and Barry Millar worked hard to get back in the set and the scores were tied at 13/13. Ragazzi took match point with a crisp side-out hit.  The Dundee attack had an opportunity to level but their left side power hit landed just outside the side line and the game was lost 13/15.  The point won with a 2/3 defeat keeps Dundee in third spot behind Ragazzi ll and NUVOC.

 

 

Women V Edinburgh University  ll

The girls were on against Edinburgh University ll and cruised to a convincing 3/0 win.  The home side were able to cope with the students’ attack and added their own brand of power at the net and with the service to win 25/11, 25/15, 25/9.

Women V NUVOC ll

Their second game against NUVOC ll proved a stiffer test as the Edinburgh side are boosted by 4 foreign players.  Natasha Melville and Lucy Wishart continued from the first game and led the side to a 25/22 win in the opening set.  Back came the NUVOC side with some big serves and clever hitting from the quick middle attackers.  Dundee’s reply was for Sarah Driscoll to burst into life and score 9 points with her power hitting. A rare error from Driscoll in a tight situation gave NUVOC an edge and they held on the sneak the set 25/22.  A run of points with scores from Lana Edgar, Lucy Wishart and Natahsa Melville kept the third set close but a run of 7 points in a row from a heavy-duty service gave the set to NUVOC 25/20.

A medical time-out for repairs to Hannah Lawrie gave the girls a short rest and it paid immediate dividends as again Dundee powered their way to a 26/24 win to take the game to a deciding tie-break set.   Hannah Lawrie gave Dundee a lead at 9/8 with 2 serve aces but it was fatigue that set in as 3 tired hits gave the set and game to NUVOIC 15/11.