WEYMOUTH Beach Volleyball Club got their season off to a flying start with a 3-1 win against Ealing Osemka in the first round of the National Cup at Redlands.

Weymouth were never behind but were tested at one set all before pulling clear to win 25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22.

The Seasiders started the season with one major change in the squad as 18-year-old Archie Golding has departed to play in Canada after earning a volleyball scholarship and he has been replaced by Lukas Pusvaskis who joins from Wessex Volleyball Club.

Weymouth came into the match against Ealing as favourites but their opponents were boosted by having signed two ex-Polonia players for the season and being coached by England international Donald Deans.

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Weymouth coach Simon Golding has been working on improving the pace of Weymouth’s attack in pre-season and adapting to this new style was never going to be easy so it was no surprise that Ealing started well and it took a while for Weymouth to settle into their stride.

Ealing led in the early stages however Weymouth began to get on top helped by expert middle blocking from Darren Harding and Ollie Smith which blunted the Ealing attack.

This allowed the Weymouth quick attack to begin to dominate the play and Valdis Baranovs and Liam Tewkesbury were looking particularly strong as Weymouth were able to take the first set 25-20.

The second set saw both sides fairly well balanced but some unforced errors from Weymouth on crucial points allowed Ealing to take the lead and they hung onto win 25-22 to level up the match.

However, from this point on Weymouth dominated the match, strong service reception from Elliott Sawyer and Matt Hunter and quick setting from Ryan Stout allowed the Weymouth attack to dominate and Pusvaskis’ powerful attacks showed why he is so highly rated, helping his team to the third set 25-14.

While the fourth set was closer Weymouth led throughout and although they were never able to pull out a large lead were always in control and won 25-22 to take the match.

Weymouth will now play at home on Saturday, October 8 in round two against The Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, they open their National League Division One campaign today when they travel to play The Black Country (1.30pm).