NVL Men Solent (A) Match Report 2011-12

Tendring Find Bogy Team

Tendring 2 - 3 SGTV Solent

Tendring suffered their first defeat in their newly promoted division. After a 4 hour drive to play Solent in Southampton it became clear that key player Alex Porter would be unable to take any part in the fixture.

Coach Neil Masters would have to fill the 6'9"'s shoes and also gave Spencer White-Overton a chance the defensive Libero role. Tendring had the better of the early exchanges and dominated the majority of the first set and a half with excellent distribution by Liam Chinnery & devastating hitting from Stuart Dove and Masters. 

Tendring found themselves in a one set lead and a 5 point advantage in the second before the quality and persistence of an established Division 1 team proved too much and Tendring surrendered the set in a disappointing manner. Again Tendring dominated the early exchanges in set 3 and took what looked like another unassailable lead with captain Sebastian Widlarz leading the way. However Tendring's lack of quality opponents over the past 2 seasons was evident as they cooled their offence and naively lost the lead and control of the set. It wasn't until their backs were against the wall and facing 5 set points did Chinnery step to the service line.  Aided with 2 ace serves and great defensive play from Mitchell Lawrence Tendring won all the remaining points to steal  a 2-1 lead.

Shell shocked from what had happened and unable to find the flow of the previous sets Tendring capitulated in the fourth to a remarkably low score. So it was down to the deciding set. Tendring re-established their rhythm and took a 3-0 lead. Tendring would only manage another 5 points during the set and were completely undone by the hard work and dogged attitude of the more established team.

The result hard to take but Tendring will be confident of revenge in the reverse fixture. You can see both Tendring Men and Women's teams play at TTC Frinton Campus this Sunday at 11.00.