Students inflict second defeat in close fought battle

Dundee’s men’s team faced a difficult task last Saturday with the return visit of Edinburgh University.  The students had won the Scottish Cup encounter the previous Saturday and were favourites to repeat the result after a 3/1 win.  The first set was all Edinburgh as they caused problems with their service and their left sided hitters were proving unstoppable.  Only Mike Coward and Tony Gadzhev scored more than 1 point as the students took the set easily 25/16.  The students had a 4/2 lead in the second set when a service mistake gave Dundee a cheap point.  Mike Coward took full advantage and the Dundee side scored 7 points on the back of his accurate serving!  Scores by Rad Marinov, 2 from Gadzhev and 4 from Lewis Crockart gave Dundee a 10/4 lead.  Gadzhev and Aus Dowie took the score to 23/15 before the visitors scored 5 points. Dundee won the last 2 points to level the game, wining the set 25/21.

Lewis Crockart and Tony Gadzhev were the top scorers as Dundee took control of the third set and opened up a 5 point lead at 13/8.  Edinburgh then scored their own run of 6 points to retake the lead.  Both sides traded points with the home side always just ahead.  Dundee’s Bulgarian duo, Rad Marinov and Tony Gadzhev, took their team to 23/20.  The students hit back and Dundee had set points at 24/22, 25/24 and 26/25.  The power of the Edinburgh hitters then swung the set in their favour to win the set 28/26.

The fourth set started with errors from both sides but the University side were always 2 points ahead.  Dundee’s defence and attack started to cause problems and as the free points in mistakes dried up the visitor had to work hard for their points.  Great defensive pick-ups from Mark Donnachie and Mike Coward kept Dundee in the set.  The left side again paid dividends for the student team and they took the set 25/23 and the match, 3 sets to 1.