COVENTRY & WARWICK RIGA 3

WEYMOUTH 1

WEYMOUTH Beach Volleyball Club saw their five-game unbeaten run ended by a 3-1 defeat at Coventry & Warwick Riga.

Weymouth went into the match without setter Ryan Stout who was unavailable because of work commitments and he was replaced by Matt Burnett, a new signing from Wessex Volleyball Club.

Burnett settled into the team quickly and had a good debut, however, the Weymouth hitters were not having their best day and this was the difference between the two sides.

Weymouth should have taken the first set when they had three set points leading 24-22.

Unforced errors by Weymouth allowed Coventry back into the set and they reeled off four unanswered points to go 1-0 up.

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Despite solid service receive from Liam Tewkesbury and Elliott Sawyer, Weymouth continued to struggle to find any of their normal attacking rhythm in the second set and Coventry led throughout to win 25-19.

The third set saw Weymouth playing much more aggressive volleyball, particularly the hitting of Sam Groom and Ollie Smith.

This time it was their turn to lead throughout the set and gain a 25-21 win.

That was until the fourth set when Weymouth could not maintain this rhythm and Coventry were able to dominate, earning a 25-15 scoreline to take the match 3-1.

On the previous weekend, Weymouth travelled to play Darkstar Derbyshire but the match had to be postponed when the teams turned up at a venue Derby had not played at before.

Upon arrival, it became clear the venue’s volleyball equipment fell below National League standard and the match was awarded to Weymouth, whose players were frustrated at spending a day travelling for no fixture.

Weymouth face a two-week break and now have two matches left to play this season, both at home to London Aces on Saturday, March 25 and against Stockport on Saturday, April 1.

It is possible that two wins could put Weymouth in the top two spots in the league but after Saturday’s defeat they will be dependent on other results going their way.