Volleyball club suffer weekend of mixed fortunes

Nov 19 2008 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

THE two teams from North Lanarkshire Volleyball Club had mixed fortunes at the weekend.

In a fiercely competitive match, the men’s team - the Cardinals - came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Pentland.

Pentland raced to a two-set lead, with individual errors costing the home side dearly.

The introduction of long-term absentee Stevie Graham bolstered the defence however and Cardinals slowly started to take control of the match, with the middle hitters beginning to score more consistently.

The home side finally wore down the resilient Pentland team to level the match at two apiece.

With the final set on a knife edge, Bellshill Cardinals came on strongly and held the lead to finally win the match.

Special mention must go to the home referee who handled a difficult match calmly but with authority.

The ladies, however, were not so lucky and went down 3-1 to the Jets side they beat by the same scoreline two weeks ago.

The under-strength home side did not really look at the races this week and only gritty defence allowed them to keep in the match at all.

The away team took the first set 26-24 but a good comeback from the North Lanarkshire ladies allowed them to take the next set.

Jets stormed to a 16-1 lead in the third, which knocked the stuffing out of the home team.

The set was lost but, more importantly, the ladies seemed to lose their drive and competitiveness.

This resulted in Jets winning the next set to take the game.

There is, however, a special mention for Alice Stewart, whose service and tactical hitting kept the ladies in the game for long spells.

This Saturday the ladies are at home in the Top Team Cup against Glasgow Mets.

The match starts at 10.30am in Brannock High, Newarthill, and admission is free.