Opening Weekend day two review - Palatinates emulate men with repeat reverse sweep

Last night, the North Easteners’ men had done it the hard way against Richmond Docklands to edge to a hard-fought win.  

This time, it was the Palatinates, women who had to grind it out and find a way to win after being outplayed in the first two sets. 

The East Midlanders came flying out of the traps and cruised into a two sets lead, taking them 25-20, 25-19. 

But they were pegged back by Durham, who gradually found their rhythm in the third set and added the fourth too (25-19, 25-15). 

That left things up for grabs in the deciding tie break, but it was Paul Walsh’s Palatinates who used their momentum to come through 15-10. 

Chloe Thomas led the way for Durham with 22 kills and six blocks, while Darkstar’s Hajar El Alouani had 24 kills, one block and three aces. 

Stamina was also the name of the game in the second match, which saw another five-setter – and another reverse sweep. 

A capital clash between last season’s third and fourth place teams, Team SideOut Polonia and Lionhearts Vinarius was always likely to be closely contested. 

That proved to be the case as the match see-sawed first one way then the other, with Lulama Musti De Gennaro forging into a two-set lead with Maria Sviridova (13 kills, one block, one ace a reliable source of points as ever. 

But there was nothing they could do as Polonia first squared the match at 2-2 and then stormed to victory in the decider (24-26, 18-25, 25-20, 25-17, 15-6). 

Jana Parmova led the way with a team-high 12 kills as Mark Kontopoulos began his 17th season at the helm in customary fashion – with a win. 

There was no such hard graft for defending MAAREE Women’s Super League champions, the Malory Eagles, who took care of business in quick time, securing victory in straight sets. 

Newly-promoted Newcastle Knights, champions of NVL Division 1 last season, gave it their all but were outgunned and overpowered on the day by an experienced Malory side well marshalled by captain Chloe Allen (15 kills, one blocks, two aces), while Claire Kellum weighed in with 10 kills. 

Opening Weekend was rounded off with another comprehensive win as last season’s silver medallists Essex Rebels had too much for Leeds Gorse. 

The Yorkshire club are going through a period of rebuilding after losing the spine of their team through the summer and are, admirably, choosing to do it through backing their homegrown players.   

But they proved to be no match for Alex Chinery’s charges on this occasion, who were always in the ascendency and never behind in the match. 

Elayne Duprey (13 kills, one block, three aces) and Tara King (eight kills, two blocks, two aces) led the scoring for Essex to help them round out a 25-10, 25-20, 25-13 success. 

Volleyball England would like to thank all the players, coaches, officials and spectators and staff for making the event such an enjoyable one. 

Images by Nathaniel Macrae, Keeran Marquis and Sky Park