A Titanic Encounter

At 9–4 up in the fifth set of this astonishingly good Scottish Cup quarter–final, Su Ragazzi were on the final straight and winning.

The first set had been a masterclass in tactical play from the Su girls – they won it 25–15 and the enthusiastic Edinburgh side were silenced.

In the second set, Danny Traylor's team found spaces that weren't so clear in the first set and hit their way to a 25–18 win.

Set 3 saw both teams go head to head with serving power and tactical hitting. Both teams had chances to excel, both teams built clusters of points, and the Su Ragazzi girls emerged with a 25–20 win.

In set 4 the competition was even more ferocious, the play was even tighter, the win even more fought for, but the home side again fought back to win 25–22.

Set 5 was required. Both sets of players worked their socks off, and it was 9–4 for the visitors. City of Edinburgh never gave up and the next time the team from the West were asked to serve, the score was 9–11, then 10–14, then 15 – game over.

The home side did a bouncy–bouncy dance, the Glasgow Girls stood and wondered. How is it possible to put so much into a game and come out the losing team? Scottish Volleyball benefitted from the absolute excellence that the players served up, and had either team won, it would have been fitting reward for their Herculean efforts, but finally the bragging rights and the place in the Scottish Cup semi–final belonged to the City of Edinburgh side!

For Su Ragazzi... the knowledge that we can and will regroup and work even harder to achieve.