Double despair in five set thrillers
It was despair, frustration and anguish last Saturday in Craigie High School with two League 1 games in the National Leagues. The ladies were on first against the team from NUVOC in Edinburgh and were missing 3 of their starting line up. They opened up well with Sarah Driscoll scoring 13 of the Dundee points as they took the first set 25/22. The unorthodox visitors were keen to keep the ball in court and frustrated the home side with difficult attack shots into the corners of the court. The response was to give away points with errors. NUVOC were gifted 15 points with service and hitting mistakes as they took the set 25/18.
The third set saw both sides trading points with the Edinburgh side opening up a 21/15 lead with a run of slow tactical attacks. The home side responded with a run of points from Danila Gasperini and Sarah Driscoll to lead 22/21. It was a score block from Driscoll and Claire Pollock gave the set to Dundee 26/24. The NUVOC side squared the match at 2 sets each with a set full of points won from their service. Dundee had no momentum and NUVOC took the set 25/19. Neither side could establish any sizeable lead in the final set. Dundee stole a 12/11 lead but a run of 3 points gave NUVOC a vital lead at 14/13 and a clever tactical attack gave the game to the visitors 15/13. This loss drops the Dundee side into the bottom two in the league.
The men then hosted Lenzie in their League 1 game. Both sides were evenly matched in the opening exchanges and without hitter Mike Coward, the home side were relying on Boris Prodanov and Dave Bonnar. Both scored well and were supported by Colin McEvoy as the scores were tied at 23/23. The Lenzie side managed to score the last two points to win 25/23. Both sides exchanged points but Dundee took a decisive lead with a run of 6 points from teenager Prodanov to lead 20/14. The young Prodanov was then targeted and gave up points as the score closed to 20/19 but his response was to hit another 3 winners and help take the set 25/20.
The next two sets were close with each side having a period of dominance and they won a set each. Lenzie took the third 25/19 and Dundee won the fourth 25/20 to take the game into a final 5th set.
Lewis Crockart, Rad Marinov and Prodanov dominated the set for the home side and took a 9/4 lead. The visitors hauled themselves back into the set with small runs of points. The score had Dundee in the lead at 13/11. Lenzie took it back to lead 14/13. Dundee levelled at 14/14 but the visitors stole the set and game 16/14 to drop the home side to second bottom in the league.