Disappointing slump gives the win to Edinburgh ll
It was played 3, lost 3 last Saturday for Dundee sides in their National League Division 1 games. The men’s side travelled to South Queensferry to take on City of Edinburgh ll and the prediction of a tough game was borne out. The home side took an early 10/6 lead and with former internationalist Danny Traylor holding the home side together, they held on to keep their lead. Dundee’s Barry Millar was able to win two points on his service but it was the home side that held firm to take the set 25/22. The second set was decided on two runs of points for each team. Edinburgh scored three from Traylor’s service and four from Mark Cathro. Dundee responded with three on the back of serves from Rad Marinov with Mike Coward and Colin Mcevoy both scoring at the net in counter attack. Boris Prodanov then weighed in with three big serves to close the gap to 22/23. Both sides traded side-out points and Edinburgh went 2/0 up winning 25/23.
Prodanov was again to the fore in the third set as he helped power the visitors to a 15/12 lead. The 16 year old was the dominant feature in the set as help from Jamie Salvin helped the Dundee side take the set 25/21. Runs of points were the feature in the fourth set as Edinburgh took the set 25/22 to inflict a second successive defeat for Dundee and consign them to second bottom place in the league after two games.
Tough games with little reward for ladies side.
The ladies made a journey west to Kilmarnock for tough games in their league 1 games. Caledonia West had beaten Su Ragazzi ll by 3 sets to 2 in the opening game and were on top form as they took on the Dundee side. Sets one and three were dominated by the Caledonia service as they racked up runs of points leading 5/2, 16/8 and 21/13 in the opening set. Resistance from Danila Gaspeini and Lana Edgar was not enough to stop a 25/15 loss. The third set was similar with Natalia Stopowska and Sarah Driscoll holding the Cale side up as they took the set 25/17.
In-between was set two when Dundee exerted pressure on the home side. It was a real team effort with points from Natalia Stopowska, Lucy Wishart, Sarah Driscoll and Danila Gasperini. It was close at 16/17 and at 18/20 but experience from the young Cale side told as they sneaked the set 25/22 with some clever plays.
Next up was Ragazzi ll in the third game of the day. Stopowska and Driscoll were the big scorers for Dundee and Agnes Bednarek added two big points and several big ‘power defence digs’ to help keep the sides close but Ragazzi took the set 25/22. Resistance was broken in the second set with only Danila Gasperini holding her own. Ragazzi took the set 25/15. A rejuvenated Dundee took the court in the third set and took a 12/7 lead with Gasperini, Driscoll and Stopowska all scoring points from strong attack hits. Ragazzi were on the ropes as the Dundee girls piled on the pressure. A run of points from Wishart, Gasperini and Driscoll took the score to 18/10. Ragazzi tried desperately to close the gap but big scoring hits gave the set to Dundee 25/21.
The Lanarkshire side were hurt and Lana Edgar and Natalia Stopowska competed well to keep the scores at 12/12. A run of points took Ragazzi into a 19/14 lead and then another run took the set and game winning 25/15.