WEYMOUTH BEACH PUSH PROMOTION CONTENDERS

Weymouth Beach Volleyball Club finished their season in National League Division One with an exciting 3-1  (21-25,25-21, 16-25, 23-25) home defeat to Essex Blaze  who still had hopes of gaining promotion themselves. The result means that Weymouth Beach end the season in 6th place in the table and gives them a National ranking of 15th and the highest ranked side in South West England. A considerable achievement for a side which only reformed as an indoor side four years ago.

Weymouth went into the match without two key players Archie Golding who had injured a hand and Matt Hunter who had work commitments. This gave youngster Ollie  Smith an opportunity to come into the starting line up and he certainly took the chance smoothly fitting into the side as a middle blocker

The match started with Essex taking an early lead as Weymouth struggled to cope with their powerful serve and attacks. Essex led for most of the set  and won 25-21 but towards the end there were signs that they were beginning to get to grips with the Essex attack and were looking to put together good attacking options of their own.

The second set was much more even with Weymouth’s service receive from Elliott sawyer, Liam Tewkesbury coping well with Essex strong serve and this meant that Weymouth’s attack co-ordinated by setter Ryan Stout were able to get on top and led for most of the set, taking it 25-21.

The third set was disappointing for Weymouth after their dominance in the second set they were not able to replicate this in the third and Mihail Stoev , a player with Champions League experience,  was the difference between the two sides as his hitting power  for Essex seemed unstoppable.

Essex started the fourth set in the same manner but gradually Weymouth came back again with strong blocking from Sam Groom and Darren Harding making Stoev’s hitting less dominant, while Valdis Baranovs hitting for Weymouth was looking a match for Stoev. Weymouth coach Simon Golding also introduced Stuey Jeanes for his tactical serving and Weymouth looked like they would take the match to a final set when they led 23-20. However, at this point Weymouth showed a little inexperience as they made a number of unforced errors and Essex came back to level and then took two dramatic points to take the set and the match 25-23.

Although this was a disappointing end to the season for Weymouth Beach overall they will be very pleased that they comfortably stabilized their position in Division One and will now be able to start planning for next season. Meanwhile thoughts will turn to the summer and Beach Volleyball which will culminate with the Weymouth Beach Classic from 15th-17th July.