Sport / Volleyballers do the double in Aith to continue fine start to season
SHETLAND’s volleyball players recorded two impressive home wins on Saturday at the Aith leisure centre.
Dundee Volleyball Club and Edinburgh Uni 2’s were their opponents in Scottish Volleyball’s league one, with both sides making the long journey north.
With Shetland team without captain Joshua Morrison due to injury, and Henry Oldbury away at college, coach Ben Laurenson stepped up to the challenge and played both games.
Shetland started off slowly against Dundee in the first fixture, but soon managed to work their way into the game to take a 15-9 lead in the opening set.
Dundee called a time-out but this did not deter young Shetland side, who continued to attack their opponents to secure the set 25-21.
Coach Laurenson started off with the serve for the home team in set two, using all his experience to put Dundee’s main attacker under pressure.
Lukasz Prawdzik and Aiden Smith blocked well at the net to stop Dundee gaining the lead, with Jarryd Jamieson helping to give Shetland a big lead.
At the back libero Kyle Duncan was keeping most things settled, and picking up most of Dundee’s attacks.
A tight set saw Dundee sneak it 27-25 to level the overall score at 1-1.
Huge hits from Jamieson, Joel Wishart and Wayne Leask in set three resulted in Dundee calling another time-out while they trailed 15-7.
With Laurenson controlling the play, the blues saw the set out at 25-20.
That left Shetland just a set away from victory, and it was a very tired Dundee team who trudged back on to the court.
The youth of the home side saw them push on for the win, with more strong hits from Leask, Jamieson and Wishart keeping the score ticking upwards.
Smith stepped up to set Leask, who delivered the ball sweetly down the line to seal a 25-20 win in the fourth set, and a 3-1 victory for Shetland overall.
Edinburgh Uni 2’s were next on the court to face the blues, and Finlay Kirkness replaced Duncan as libero as they sought to make it two wins from two.
Though they were slow off the mark again, Shetland soon found their rhythm through more left-handed attacks from Wishart.
Edinburgh called a time-out while they trailed 18-5, but Pradzik served the set out to give Shetland a 25-14 win in set one.
More good attacking play from Leask, Wishart, Smith, Prawdzik and young Bobby Laurenson turned the screw on Edinburgh in the second set.
Setter Laurenson showed off all his experience, creating attacks for Shetland, and they won the set 25-16.
That left the blues a set away from back-to-back wins, and they battled unto a comfortable 14-7 lead.
A minor blip in the home defence allowed Edinburgh back into the game, but Shetland settled again and saw the game out 25-14 for a 3-0 overall victory.
Shetland Volleyball thanked coach Laurenson for stepping up to play, Anita Jamieson for picking up Dundee’s squad from the airport, and TS Driving Shetland for sponsoring the team with two Olympic match balls.
Those two wins put Shetland fourth in the league table, with three wins from their opening four games.
They are away from home this weekend to face the league’s top two, Lenzie and Forza Regazzi, in what is sure to be two tough tests for the team.
Anyone interested in trying volleyball is urged to give the Shetland Volleyball page a message on Facebook.
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