Weymouth Beach Volleyball Club take a 5 set thrilling win in the last action before league suspension.

League leaders, Weymouth Beach travelled to Milton Keynes on Saturday to play the only match that took place in the National League Division 2 South before Volleyball England suspended league action until the 20th May on Monday evening.

After a long journey, Weymouth got off to a sluggish start in the game. Not playing at their best, they were still ahead of their opponents until mid-way through the set when a heavy jump serve proved too much to handle and  Milton Keynes pulled back before taking the lead with a string of points. Flustered by this, the away side could not pull back and went down 20-25.

Weymouth came out in the second set seemingly shell shocked by what had just happened. Struggling to put any attacking plays together and making unforced errors on service saw them battling to keep up with the consistent home side. It did not look like it was going to be the Seasiders day losing the 2nd set 25-19.

The start of the third set saw a different line-up come onto court. Coach, Stuart Jeanes, had decided to have a reshuffle, bringing himself on and freeing up Valdis Baranovs to play through the middle. Hopefully, this would add some consistency and more attacking options to Weymouth’s play. It proved to be an inspired decision as the energy on court instantly rose and the league leaders started to show why they were just that. Determined not to be beaten, the side upped the game and finally started to play the volleyball they were capable of. Liam Tewkesbury started to fire and regularly started to win vital points. A tight finish to this set, set the tone for the rest of the match. Weymouth’s come back had started as they took it 29-27.

Buoyed by their impressive play in the previous set, the travelling team now knew they could take another victory which previously had seemed a long way off. Baranovs continued to trouble the opposition attacking through the middle. This, in turn, freed up the outside hitters to become more effective. The two sided traded point after point with some long rallies testing the resolve of both teams. Milton Keynes seemed to keep taking these longer rallies but this did not effect Weymouth’s mindset. Jeanes decided he could give no more after a run of serves making way for Ian Denslow. Neither team were able to get a substantial lead and once again the set went to 2 clear points. At 26 point a piece Tewkesbury decided to duck under a ball that he thought was travelling out of court. This error left Weymouth in a very precarious position- just 1 point from losing the match. Unfazed Sean Hendry passed the next serve perfectly onto setter Tom Allen’s head and followed it up by spiking the ball into the oppositions court. Finally squaring the match up, The Seasiders took the set 30-28.

In the finally set, the away team had all the momentum and this proved too much for Milton Keynes. After a tight start, Tewkesbury went back to serve at 8-7. He served accurately and unforgivingly on one of the home teams players and their attacking options were limited. Back-upped by unanswerable hitting from Hendry and relentless backcourt play from the rest of the team they took 5 points in a row to gain an unassailable lead. Winning two more points, taking it to 15-8, Weymouth took an epic victory 3-2 in and unforgettable match.

The future of the league is now up in the air with the current Covid-19 situation. Will Weymouth get the chance to finish the league and take the title or will they have to start all over again in the 20-21 season? With the beach volleyball season usually starting in early May it is difficult to see how remaining fixtures will be factored in.