Su Ragazzi Volleyball Club
Saturday November 11th saw an absolute cracker of a Division I match sandwiched between two very straightforward Premier Division wins.
The venue for the event was Coatbridge High School, with the first of the matches taking place between the hosts City of Glasgow Ragazzi and their visitors South Ayrshire.
Iain Parker’s team have a ‘big-game’ attitude,
they have a ‘big-game’ approach, they have a ‘big-game’ profile, but unfortunately, they don’t have a ‘big-game’ passing unit! Both sides were missing players although, arguably, this was seen to affect the visitors more as they conceded 14 service aces in the three sets to zero loss.
First Referee Brian McDougal was his usual efficient self, although there were few talking points in the one-sided encounter which saw the home side romp away with the exchanges 25-16, 25-20, 25-20.
Next up were the boys from Su II playing the resurgent Edinburgh Jets. This was a ‘belter’ of a first division match, won and lost at the net, with both sides demonstrating fire, passion and no little skill.
Set 1 went to the Edinburgh side 25-19 with the pattern of play establishing that their blocking against the Ragazzi outside hitters was going to be the main feature of the game. Both sides served tough, both sides had passages of play where they passed well, and badly, both setters had to hussle on occasion, and both setters established that their first tempo attack would be a major feature in the exchanges.
Set 2 also went to the visitors with an even more emphatic 25-16 score-line. In the change of ends there was lots of tension, but also lots of positivity, if only our outsides could break free from their block…..they did. They changed tactics, we changed setting patterns, we hit the ball even harder, and we celebrated when we took the set 25-18.
Set 4 we were always in front, and Jets looked like they were tiring although their blocking was still a dominant feature in their play. We took the 4th set and talked about being calm in the 5th……We used the momentum gained in the previous two sets to march into a 4-0 lead, then our passing unit switched off, and their blocking unit stitched on! We changed ends with the score reading 8-4 to the visitors, and we simply did not have enough time to recapture the set, losing it and the match 15-11.
It was a sore one, it was hard to take, it was a terrific match with some great individual performances, and we are in a rebuilding phase as we introduce a number of junior players, so we will not be too ‘down’ after what was undoubtedly the match of the day.
So, completing the Saturday Sandwich were the Fabulous Suettes playing against the ladies of Edinburgh Jets.
No contest, although the visitors did hussle and scramble about with enthusiasm. We won the match 3 sets to zero. The set scores were 25-13, 25-16, 25-17. We scored 8 service aces. We scored 6 kill blocks. Our middle attack ran riot and was ably supplied by junior setter Nicole Ramage, and 3 of our outside hitters scored better than 50% kill – The Jets simply had no answer to the questions we posed them.
So well done to all for helping make another Saturday Success at Su Ragazzi.