Another Super Saturday

Game of the day in this bright early Spring Saturday saw the young boys of Su Ragazzi II play against the vastly experienced Bellshill Cardinals with the match played at Carluke High School.

This match was the penultimate fixture in the National League calendar. Going into the match the Su II Boys were in the top position with Bellshill third. Bellshill couldn’t change their position much with a win, but they could derail the Su Boys’ efforts to win the championship…..game on!

The Su Supporters were thoughtful as the warm-up progressed. Kim Mackenzie reflected;
“The key to success for the Boys is their defense. Bellshill have a strong attack and loads of experience. Su need strong hitters. It should be a close game, if Su do their jobs and focus they have a good chance of winning.”

Meichelle Walker’s thoughts followed a similar line;
“Su have experienced players returning from injury, which will help the younger players. We should win this game and then build on it for the final match against Edinburgh”

The match proved to be a pretty straight forward affair. The home side matched the visitors for effort, industry and attitude, and then played faster than them. The home side matched the visitors in defense and served tougher than them. The home side matched the visitors for ball control and then hit the ball harder than them. Game done!

The set scores were 25 – 19, 25 – 21, and 25 – 23 – this was no walk over, the Bellshill player were playing to compete! Bellshill then won the obligatory fourth set 25 – 20, before the home side tied up the match with a 15 – 11 fifth set score.

Utility expert Colin Sangster was asked to reflect after the match – he said;
“ We prepared correctly for this match. We had the right mind set, and in the end we played better volleyball than them and had more firepower. “ Colin was then asked to reflect on the Championship decider which will take place at Carluke, against City of Edinburgh II on Saturday March 22nd. “ We will win it! It will be close, they are young team, fit, exuberant and talented, but if we prepare as well as we did today then we should win it………”

So the Championship comes down to one ‘winner-takes-all’ match on March 22nd. Can’t wait!

The women’s Division II match between the Baby Suettes and NUVOC then followed. The Baby Suettes won the Division II Championship a coupe of weeks ago, and have had an astonishing first season together. There was a special ‘edge’ to this game, as it was to be Claire Crowe’s last National League match for the Club. Claire is moving to Dundee later this year and will therefore no longer be demonstrating her style and athleticism in a Su Ragazzi uniform.

NUVOC were excellent opponents for Claire’s last league game. They are enthusiastic, cheerful and resilient. They played well and matched the home side’s enthusiasm, but couldn’t quite match their playing ability.

The Suettes hustled and worked and stayed tight as a unit to win the match 3 – 0.

Division II Champions with an undefeated record in their triumphant league campaign……..simply awesome!

Roll on the Thistle Bowl semi final on March 29th……….Claire’s not quite finished yet!

Meanwhile at Coltness the Fabulous Suettes won 3 – 0, as did the City of Ragazzi men…..four matches played, and four matches won on another Super Su Ragazzi Saturday.