NVL Review (7th and 8th December) - Knights women take control at top

The North East club contested two games over the weekend, first taking on second-placed Essex Trinity on Saturday, knowing that maintaining their 100% record would be far from easy. 

But the Knights passed the test with flying colours, coming through to win in four sets, 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17. 

The team also had matters to take care of on Sunday when they welcomed Coventry and Warwick Riga to Newcastle University Sports Centre. 

Once again the hosts were up to the challenge, claiming a comfortable 25-18, 25-20, 25-14 success. 

London Giants continue to shape up well, moving their record to 5-1 – having lost only to the Knights – after proving too strong for winless Southampton to prevail in straight sets (25-15, 25-13, 25-14. 

They remain fifth in the table, but have games in hand on all those above them, except Newcastle. 

In third place and going well are Everton Belugas, who beat Stockport 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22) by keeping their cool in the final stages of each set. 

Sharing the same 5-2 record are Leicester Athena Phoenix whose latest success was 3-0 success at Richmond (25-23, 25-20, 25-19). 

In Division 2 North, The Miners Doncaster turned their previous week defeat to Newcastle Staffs into a victory this time round, but they were made to work hard in their three-set match (25-20, 25-23, 25-21). 

They are now second behind leaders Manchester Marvels Mayhem, while third-placed Tamworth Spartans were taken to five sets by Sheffield before coming through 25-18, 25-15, 18-25, 20-25, 15-11. 

Everton Narwhals are fourth after easing to a straight sets success at Urmston Grammar (25-13, 25-23, 25-22). 

There was just one game in Division 2 West and it saw Bedminster extend their lead at the top as they saw off Oxford Eagles 25-20, 25-23, 25-21. 

The same was true in Division 2 East, where Cambridge added to their advantage at the summit to seven points as they proved too strong for MK City (25-15, 25-14, 29-27). 

York Falcons enjoyed a stellar weekend in Division 3 North as they came out on top in their triangular with Chester Amazons (25-10, 25-16, 25-13) and Hull Thunder (25-22, 25-13, 25-12). 

Chester then clinched victory in the other match by a 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 margin. 

A busy weekend of triangulars in Division 2 Central saw Wombourne win the battle of the top two, edging out Lincoln Cannons by two points in the decider after a five-set thriller (26-28-26, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16, 17-15). 

They also came from a set down to beat Leicester Athena Nova to maintain their 100% record, making it eight wins out of eight (22-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-18), before the Cannons could draw some solace from a 3-0 win (25-22, 25-15, 31-29) in the other match to stay second. 

They are, however, now under pressure from Darkstar Derbyshire 2, who strengthened their own cause with double victory at Belper Leisure Centre over Black Country 2 (25-21, 25-17, 25-22) and Coventry and Warwick Riga 2 (25-18, 25-18, 25-12). 

The other match went the full distance before Riga won 19-17 in the fifth after an epic battle. 

The Nottinghamshire derby between Ashfield Vipers and Nottingham Rockets saw the hosts clinch a 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 victory. 

Buit it was the visitors from further afield, Rhinos Volleyball Cambridge, who enjoyed the best of things, beating Ashfield in four sets and the Rickets after another five-set thriller, taking the tie breaker 15-6. 

No side is now left undefeated in Division 3 South East after a highly-eventful day of action at The Triangle.   

Sussex Dolphins would have been jubilant to end the unbeaten record of Worthing with a striaght sets win (25-20, 25-23, 25-15), only to then lose their own perfect start in going down to Ashcombe Dorking in four (25-19, 16-25, 26-24, 29-27). 

Tendring, meanwhile, moved up to third in a triangular fixture where all three matches went to five sets, edging out both Spelthorne Sharks, who won the other contest, and Essex Ravens. 

Reading Aces made it a lucky seven wins in Division 3 South West by inflicting a first defeat on Bristol 2 as the Berkshire side prevailed 25-9, 25-13, 25-16) to go two points clear at the top. 

Southampton 2 are their nearest challengers in second after completing comfortable straight sets victories over Portsmouth and Weymouth, with the former beating the latter by the same margin to stay third. 

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The top three sides in Men’s Division 1 all secured maximum-points victories to keep their promotion pushes on track. 

Leeds Gorse remain strong favourites to take the title after making it 11 wins from 12 matches as they overcame London Baks 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-22). 

Second-place London Aces carried their record to 7-3 with a home win over Newcastle Staffs (25-16, 25-23, 25-22), while Black Country were victorious on the road after recovering from losing the first set to beat Cambridge ARU (23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 27-25). 

A big weekend for Loughborough Students in Division 2 Central saw them make a move up the table to fourth with games in hand on two of those above them by securing a double on the road. 

On Saturday, they were straight sets victors at Norwich Spikers (25-16, 25-21, 25-19) and followed it up with an even more impressive success at league leaders Rhinos Volleyball Cambridge, where they fought off two fightbacks to dig out a 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-9 triumph. 

MK City also continued their recent resurgence by seeing off Coventry and Warwick Riga 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-22) at Glebe Farm School. 

Richmond Bucks extended their lead at the top of Division 2 South to seven points, but were made to work hard for it against a gutsy Wiltshire Mavericks side. 

The first two sets both finished 29-27 to the London hosts before the visitors took the third 25-15. 

However, the Bucks reasserted control in the fourth set to win it 25-16 and send themselves into their Christmas break with a healthy buffer. 

Nottingham Rockets defeated both of their nearest rivals in Division 3 North Central to not only retain leadership but make it eight consecutive victories. 

Battling to a 29-27 first set success over second-placed Leicester bore fruit as the other sets came much easier (25-12, 25-16), while third-placed Wombourne managed to take a set but no more (25-21, 25-11,17-25, 25-15). 

Below them, Chester were also double winners, beating GNG Bedford 3-1 and Tamworth Spartans 3-0, with the former of the defeated sides beating the latter 3-2 in the third match of their triangular. 

Wombourne 2 remain winless and bottom of the table after being beaten 3-1 by Darkstar Derbyshire 2 and Black Country 2, who also beat the East Midlanders by the same scoreline. 

Sheffield Springers used their triangular to leap to the top of Division 3 North West, defeating both Manchester Marvels Marauders and Intervolley Manchester in straight sets. 

Intervolley are fourth in the table after seeing off the Marauders in four. 

It was a bad weekend for leaders Onyx in Division 3 South East as they lost both matches in their trinagular, both by 3-2 scorelines, to Tendring and Dartford Crossers. 

The result is that the Crossers are have now moved to second and within a point after a straight sets success over Tendring. 

Worthing are up to fourth after consecutive 3-1 wins over Essex Estonians and Urbond Portsmouth, with the latter registering a 3-0 triumph in the third match of the triangular.

Oxford Bulls continue to be a cut above the rest in Division 3 South West having only dropped one set from their matches so far. 

They made it eight wins from eight by dispatching both City of Bristol and Bristol 2 by 3-0 scorelines, inflicting only a second league defeat of the season on the latter, who did clinch the other game in the triangular fixture against their city rivals in straight sets.   

Southampton 2 improved their record to 3-3 with victories over Bedminster (3-2) and Coventry and Warwick Riga 2 (3-1). 

Bedminster then overcame Riga 3-1 to stay above them in the standings. 

Top image by Noelia Fernandez Perez

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