The SQ Fortress breached.

South Queensferry High School is the home of the City of Edinburgh Volleyball Club who have turned the venue into an almost impregnable fortress. At Fortress SQ points are preciously guarded, visitors are greeted with waves of attacking volleyball, and the losses the home side have recorded in the past five years can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So when Su Ragazzi Volleyball Club (the current Scottish Champions) came calling it was pretty certain that there would be competitive fireworks and some top class volleyball.

Set 1 the Glasgow side set their stall out immediately as they won the first point of the match with a service ace. They were never behind in the scoring, and wrestled the set away from the home side with a 25-16 score line.

Set 2 was following the same pattern until the Edinburgh side gave themselves a shake and started to serve considerably tougher. The tougher service gave them a platform to base their block defence around, and with the score at 18-19 they were very much in the set, until the visitors responded to the challenge and won the set 25-20.

The Su Boys were playing very well! The passing unit was giving setter Marc McLaughlin lots of options which he happily used to open hitting corridors for first tempo and the outside. So far – so good with everything going to plan.

The feeling of success continued into the 3rd set, and with the visitors 7 – 4 to the good Niall Collins stepped up to serve for the home side. He jump served a very tough serve and his team won the point with a transition hit. He did it again with the next point. He then served an unplayable ball which almost knocked the Su Ragazzi Libero off his feet……..Nially was pumped and when the Glasgow side finally managed to deal with his thunderous service and side out, the score was 12-7 for the Edinburgh side. They didn’t look back, and won the set 25-19.

The fourth set was titanic. With both sides battering services at each other. With both teams scrabbling for points amidst some terrific play and at 24-24 it was too tight to call, but the Boys from the West had enough to close the set out in the next two points and win the match 3 – 1. Fortress SQ had been breached and there were high fives all around the visitor's circle.

Match 2 – City of Edinburgh II V Su Ragazzi II
This was a straightforward affair with the visitors winning 3 sets to zero. The Glasgow side had too much firepower and too much experience for the home side, however the Edinburgh team are young, are talented, are working really hard to learn their craft, and will get better week on week. The set scores were 25-17, 25-19, 25-20

Match 3 was the feature match of the day between the ladies Premier League Champions (Su Ragazzi) and the runner’s up (City of Edinburgh0.

It was fierce, it was demanding, it was hugely competitive and finally it was won by the home side 3 sets to zero.

For sets 1 and 2 there was nothing between the two sides with Edinburgh winning 26-24 and 25-21. Set three was about being focussed, was about having a clear intention behind every action that was made, abut being determined to win and demonstrating that consistently – especially in the many broken plays, and the Edinburgh side did all of that better than their opponents and took the set 25-20.

Great credit must go to the City of Edinburgh Volleyball Club for the way they staged the matches, and for the way they performed. Great credit must go to the Su Ragazzi teams who competed (and won) with such flair and spirit. Can we do it all again please….soon!