Men’s volleyball team fail to derail Leeds Met
Photo: Justyn Hardcastle
YORK 0
LEEDS MET. CARNEGIE 3
York men’s volleyball team were beaten by a strong Leeds Met. Carnegie side in what was a feisty encounter on Wednesday evening, with York going into the game looking to cause an upset against the perennial table toppers.
With the Carnegie team full of talented eastern European scholarship students, York needed to settle down quickly to make the best possible start, but the White Rose immediately came under pressure from the well coached Carnegie team – their direct play cutting through the York defence to take a 5-1 lead at the first change of ends. York did creep back into the first game, especially through some smart net play of Jonas Pollex, but the visitors closed the game out 25-16 to strike the first blow.
With the visiting Carnegie team now asserting their experience onto proceedings, the second game did not start any better for York, finding themselves 7-0 down, contributed through a combination of mental errors and precision set plays from their opponents. York were forced to call a time out to try and reverse the slide, with Captain Janis Koknevics asking for his players to maintain focus and keep calm in a desperate bid to settle the visibly uneasy home side. Though York did indeed settle down, they still could not compete with the earth-shaking spikes being rained down from the opposition, who fully capitalised on York’s jitters. Unable to halt the slide, York lost the second game 25-4 and faced a fraught struggle to salvage anything from the rest of the match.
The volleyball firsts have now won two games and lost four in Northern Conference 1A. They sit fourth in the division. Photograph Justyn Hardcastle.
The beating sustained in the second could have killed off lesser teams, but not so for York, who came back revitalised and looking like a wholly different proposition. Despite starting slowly yet again, the White Rose were finally finding success at the net and closed the gap to three points, much to the annoyance of a frustrated Carnegie bench, who began to openly berate the officials on marginal calls in a distasteful lack of discipline. The visitors petulance would again stop play later in the game, with Carnegie coach Simon Loftus having to be calmed down by his players after disputing a serve.
With concentration lapsing in their opponents, the home side turned the third game on its head. Valiant defending, especially from Libero Lukas Thoeni, and aggressive offence allowed a route back into the game – York even throwing in an ace for good measure – to close the match to a single point. Despite the marked improvement, it was a case of too little too late for York and it was Leeds Met Carnegie who twisted the knife to kill off York’s fight back, taking the third game 25-22 and claiming a deserved victory 3-0 win.
Next week the team play Manchester firsts at home. They are only one position above York in the division but are nine points ahead. Photograph Justyn Hardcastle.
Despite the defeat, York captain Janis Koknevics stated that, although there was an obvious gulf in class, he was “Very happy with the team’s effort and performance today – especially in the third game. [That game] was really enjoyable for us and I hope it was fun to watch too, so I can’t really ask for anything more than that”.
York can take heart knowing that they, all be it periodically, matched with one the best teams in the country -Leeds Met Carnegie recently beat Sheffield Hallam who are the Volleyball breeding ground for London 2012, leaving The White Rose to looking to improve and continue their ascent up the BUCS rankings.
Loading ...