Tendring Men's 1st 3 - 0 Manchester Marvels
Report by Jermaine Miles
The second match of the weekend saw Tendring playing Manchester Marvels who currently sit one point away from last place. With a match yesterday, Tendring came out a bit sluggish. You could automatically see that this was going to be a scrappy match, Manchester came out fighting for every ball.
Tendring’s offence was very out of sync from the start, with errors from the left and right side. Although Manchester were hustling for every ball, Derek Sullivan’s cannon of a right arm proved to much as he was scoring at ease! Stuart Dove’s quick movement and smart play in the middle proved a problem for Manchester as Tendring’s setters had a field day providing one-on-ones on the outside. Tendring were able to hang on and win the set 25-23.
The second set started a lot better from Tendring with some strong serving from Stuart Dove and solid blocking from James Chapman. Manchester were under pressure and unable to keep up with the speed and power from Tendring. Things got a bit complacent towards the end of the set where Manchester were able to gain a few points off of Tendring’s errors. A time-out from Head Coach Alex Porter seemed to do the drink as Tendring came back out firing on all cylinders, Derek Sullivan distributing the ball well and spreading the offence. Tendring were able to take the set 25-13.
For some reason Tendring came out sluggish again, perhaps thinking the game was already won, but Manchester were up for a fight. With a lot of hitting errors coming from Tendring’s side of the net. Manchester were leading throughout the game, with some good offence and a strong will to win compared to Tendring’s. Things started to look up when Dove went back to serve and had a nice run to bring Tendring back into the game. Again a few hitting errors saw Manchester take the lead again and this time the team weren’t having it, with some players stepping up and giving other players the kick that they needed. Tendring were able to squeeze out a 26-24 win in the third set to claim the match 3-0!
MVP was Derek Sullivan.