NVL Men - Guildford Internation (A) Match Report 2009-10

Tendring V.C. 3 – 0 Guildford International

25-20, 25-22, 25-20

Report by Alex Porter

Guildford International More Like Guildford Local

Three days before the match with Guildford International, Tendring's squad was reduced to its bare minimum. Five players pulled out of the weekends fixtures leaving Porter with only 1 sub for the weekend. Please god don't let their be an injury ran through Porters head the whole way through the drive to Norwich. The starting line up was already going to be different as Masters couldn't make the fixture due to previous commitments.

Set 1

Tendring nervously started their first game of the weekend against Guildford International. With the score at 4-2 Porters worst nightmare started to come true, Sonny Chaney informed Porter that he's pulled its calf and is struggling to move.Jamie Everett replaced Chaney.Porter now had no substitutes remaining and was hoping the rest of the team would pull out all the stops. Suddenly new signing Chris Todd came alight, scoring points with ease. With the help of Aaron Jones' blocking Tendring took a 9-6 lead. Liam Chinnery stabilised the passing unit which helped Jones covert a number of kills. Todd and Seb Widlarz continued to capitalise on Guildford's short and lightly overweight setter. Widlarz nailed a ball into the middle of court to take Tendring 20-17. Guildford called their first time-out, Porter instructed his men to serve away from Guildford's best player Tom Booth. Jamie Everett and Dove follow Porters advice and make it easy for the Tendring blockers. Jones then killed a ball to win the set 25-20.

Set 2

After a few long rallies the game was balanced at 5-5 but then Todd took control and killed 3 balls in a row. Nick Davies and Jones then roofed a Guildford 4 attack which was followed up with a trademark power hit by Widlarz. Guildford couldn't do anything but call a time-out, even with this break Everett blocked two balls in a row and the Guildford heads started to drop. Davies then performed some magic moves by hitting when he should of been setting. Chinnery's passing continued to improve throughout the set but was tested little in defence until 16-13 when Kent Shurville for Guildford started to hit well through the middle. At 21-16 Todd tipped just over the top of the Guildford block to find an open space of court. Widlarz copied Todd and tipped to the same spot to win another point. Guildford thought that Widlarz was going to do the same again on the next point but this time he smashed it down the line to give Tendring set point. Dove then produced a massive block to win the set 25-20

Set 3

Guildford's head had truly dropped and it showed, the first 5 points consisted of Dove killing a free net, an ace by Davies, a kill by Everett, a block by Everett and a silly communication error by Tendring. This trend followed for the rest of the set, Guildford couldn't get themselves together. Chinnery's defence was inch perfect which allowed all the hitters to get in on the action. Guildford called a time-out at 10-5 to try and stop the flow of points but it had no effect. Tendring maintained their composure and were patient when they needed to be. To be fair, Guildford rallied towards the end, with some long rallies but Tendring's superior mental focus allowed them to take the shots when they needed to. The teams traded until 19-14 when Tendring decided to put Guildford out of their misery. Todd, Jones and Widlarz piled on the pressure and after only a few minutes it was match point to Tendring. Jones scored an ace to win the game. Set score 25-16.

Coach Porter was delighted the way the team came together especially J. Everett. He came off the bench and played out of position but made it look like he'd played there all his life, he even managed a smile a few times after roofing Guildford's players. Well done team.