INDOOR TEAM BACK IN ACTION AFTER 500 DAYS!

Saturday saw the restart of competitive volleyball for Weymouth Beach Volleyball Club’s, National League Division 1, indoor side in the National Cup. They travelled to Portsmouth to take on Division 3 side South Hants.

Weymouth had some new faces in their squad with the additions of U19 England international Archie Golding; former New Forest middle hitter Ollie Smith and, on the bench, ex-England coach Simon Golding.

The away side went into the cup tie with confidence, despite having not played a competitive game in almost 2 years. South Hants came with a good reputation but were two leagues below Weymouth and also had not played since lockdown struck last March.

The Seasiders started strongly and dominated throughout the first set. Coming out comfortably on top with some clinical hitting from Sam Groom through the middle. The set ended 25-18 to the visitors and they were keen to push on in the next.

The second and third sets went much the same way with solid hitting from the new youngster, Archie Golding, and a confident back court display from Elliott Sawyer. South Hants had no answers for the quality of Weymouth and could not keep pace.

Ryan Stout all but finished off the game with a run of 5 unreturnable serves towards the end of the 3rd set. The away team comprehensively took the victory 3 sets to 0. 25-18, 25-17, 25-15.

Next weekend, sees the return of the National League where Weymouth will travel to Cambridge for their long-awaited first season in Division 1. This will be the start of a tough campaign for the local side, who have not played at this level in over 30 years. Teams will travel from all over the country, throughout the season, to take on the newly promoted side. Club captain Ryan Stout says “It’s really exciting to have my local club competing at such a high level of English Volleyball and we can’t wait to get the season underway this weekend”.

Weymouth’s first home fixture is in a couple of weeks time (Saturday 16th October) where they will take on Doncaster. They would like to thank their sponsors FaceAce beauty, Albert Goodman Chartered Accountants and Parkers Property who have made the up-coming season possible and would love to see supporters line the balcony at their home games once again.