Men’s Team v Aberdeen / Ladies’ Team v City of Edinburgh II
Relegation threat after loss to Aberdeen
Dundee’s men slipped into a relegation play-off with a 3/1 defeat to Volleyball Aberdeen last Saturday. Needing a win to avoid any chance of ‘the drop,’ Dundee started well with Rad Marinov, Tony Gadzhev and Lewis Crockart all scoring. Gadzhev and Mike Coward scored 8 points between them to give Dundee a 21/18 lead. Aberdeen replied with 2 side-out points before Lewis Crockart scored a service ‘ace’ and Dundee won the set 25/20.
Both sides traded points in the second set, but it was Dundee errors that were keeping the visitors close and still in the set. The score was 15/16 with 12 points gifted in errors and Aberdeen piled on the pressure and more mistakes gave them the set 25/17! The momentum had swung in favour of the visitors, and they stormed to a 16/3 lead in set 3. Dundee’s attack was faltering and unable to gain a handhold as they surrendered runs of 3, 4 and 8 points. Some respect was gained with scores from Rad Marinov and Bartosz Zywert but Aberdeen won the set comfortably, 25/13.
Mike Coward and Tony Gadzhev helped rescue the situation and Dundee became more competitive. They kept the scores close, but the visitors had power hitters on both sides of the court, causing problems for the Dundee defence. Their power eventually overwhelmed Dundee, allowing Aberdeen to win the set 27/25 and the match 3/1. This victory secured a 5th/6th playoff game for Aberdeen.
Another win gives play-off final place for ladies
There were no such problems for Dundee’s Ladies as they moved smoothly into the promotion play-off game with an excellent 3/0 win over City of Edinburgh ll. Katie Stewart deputised for Laura Ward in the starting line-up. Dundee started well taking a 5/0 lead with Emma Clarkson scoring 3 service ‘aces’. She then led the team to a 17/9 lead using hitters Nicola McKenzie and Sarah Driscoll to overcome the Edinburgh defence. There was a brief flurry of resistance from the visitors until McKenzie hit the final shot to win the set 25/17.
The second set was full of runs of points as both sides worked hard from the service line. Agnes Bednarek and Hannah Lawrie both helped with scores as Dundee led 9/7. Edinburgh hit back to lead 16/15 then they gave up a run of 5 errors giving Dundee the lead at 21/18. The sides were level at 23/23 and a service into the net and a wayward hit gave Dundee the set 25/23. The home side stormed into the third set with McKenzie and Driscoll racking up scores. Katie Stewart and Krystine Shand both added to the tally with their team moving to lead 22/10. A scoring hit and then a service ‘ace’ from Stewart gave Dundee match point which was dispatched with power by Sarah Driscoll. Dundee won the set 25/12 to set up the promotion game tomorrow.