Dolphin VC NL Mens Results 1

NVL SUSSEX Dolphin Men lose out in tightly contested first matches of Season
Date: 23rd September 2007
Venue: Chesterton, Cambridge

Match 1 vs vs Cambridge 3.

Result: Sussex Dolphins lost to Cambridge 3: 2-3 (25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 7-15)

Sussex started strongly in their first match of the season with some excellent serving by John Burlet and captain Gavin Henneker taking the first set comfortably. Sussex continued to play well in set 2 shutting Cambridge out. Cambridge found their feet in set three and piled on the pressure. Sussex, playing for the first time as a team, lost their form on court and Cambridge capitalised finding the gaps. Both teams came out fighting in set four with some long rallies. Stefan Nordt, a recent addition to the team joining from Germany, played well out of position through the middle, but at 23-23 Sussex let Cambridge finally edge in front to take the set 25-23. The final set Sussex heads had gone down and Cambridge finished well taking the set and the match 15-7.

Player of the match: Vlad Sipula

Match 2 vs vs Dulwich Knights

Result: Sussex Dolphins lost to Dulwich Knights: 2-3 (25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-15, 14-16)

Sussex had a tough match versus last seasons 2nd place finishers. Sussex raised their game and came out firing on all cylinders with some solid hitting by Richard Hemery and Rob Pennifold, playing his first NVL game at 17 years old. Some needless errors in set 2 let Dulwich back into the match to take the second set. Set three saw Sussex go 16-10 down with some strong serving by Dulwich. Despite this they showed great character by clawing back to 19-23 before losing the set 21-25. Sussex came out in set four showing grit and determination. Once again the team clicked and some solid setting by John Burlet and Sean Wray released the hitters to perform at their best and Sussex delivered a convincing 25-15 win taking it to the fifth and final set. In a closely contested final set Sussex had moments where they excelled and moments where they let Dulwich in. Dulwich made a tactical substitution that released their big four hitter and despite being 14-14 Sussex were finally over-powered.

Player of the match: Richard Hemery

Squad: J. Burlet, G. Henneker, S. Nordt, V. Sipula, R.Hemery, R. Pennifold, S. Wray