Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Men 1sts 3-0 Sheffield Men's 1sts
York men's volleyball team had already played Sheffield this year, coming out 3-0 victors. This Wednesday should not have been any different.
The match, however, was scheduled by York sports to be played in the tent and according to International volleyball guidelines, it is illegal to play volleyball in places, where the temperature is below 8 degrees Celsius. The club’s president and the men’s captain remonstrated with York Sport, but made little headway.
The men started assuredly winning in the first set by a comfortable margin. In response Sheffield showed their fighting spirit and tried to close the gap, fighting for every point played. The Sheffield team has a lot of new faces this year and with Volleyball being such a team sport, where all six players on court need to play as one, Sheffield were bound to struggle. York, managed to win the first set 25-21, leading in the game 1-0.
The score in the first set was much closer than York expected. Starting their second set, they knew that they had to improve their performance. After a shaky start they managed to pull themselves together and win the second set with an excellent score of 25-11, putting Sheffield two sets behind. The home side won the the third set with a 25-20 score, giving them their 3-0 win.
After full points this week York's men are facing Manchester in their next fixture. The game promises to be tough, but the Men’s Volleyball team have shown before that they are not shy of a battle.
Volleyball Men’s 1sts: Setter- Jack Butcher, Middle players- Jon Stammers, Janis Koknevics, Jerome Michaux, Four players- Luca Accorsi, Albert, Michal Kovac, Opposite- Joshua Chipman, Libero- Lucas Thoeni.
Women's 1sts 3-2 Bradford Women's 1sts
After a long and mentally tiring weekend, the women’s team played Bradford for the second time this year, looking to avenge their earlier loss. After only playing a couple of games this term, York women were still finding their feet with the injection of new players.
York started the game in an aggressive fashion, trying to win as many points as they could. As the first set progressed it was clear that this tie would be a close fight. York ended up losing the first set 20-25 to Bradford
York began the second set with a positive attitude and the girls kept on pressurising Bradford. York kept moving forward playing almost faultlessly taking the second set 25-21 leveling the tie 1-1.
As the third set started York were dominant crushing the opponents with 25-7 putting them in the lead 2-1. In the face of defeat Bradford began to up their tempo with some excellent volleyball. Each team went head to head fighting for the last set. Luck, however, was on Bradford’s side this time, who won the set with a very tight score of 25-27 putting them back into the game.
York began to tire mentally and physically and dropped four points behind in the fifth set, when Sophie showed excellent serving skills and put York into the lead. After such a rollercoaster, the girls didn’t think of letting the victory go, they pulled their game together and managed to win with a score 15-7granting them a 3-2 victory, their first of the term.
Great team spirit and the willingness to win were shown by our Women in the game against Bradford. Next week they are facing Leeds Met Carnegie at home, which is will be an even tougher fixture.
York Women's 1sts: Setter/ Opposite- Maiko Uesaki, Lisa Breitschuh, Middle players- Annelies Vredeveldt, Janette Chow, Four players- Sophie Lawton, Lucy Porter.
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