22 Jan 2024
Super League round 10 review: Palatinates stay focus as Eagles fly to summit
After a perfect 10 wins prior to Christmas, the North East side have built a sizeable lead at the top of the table and showed they were in no mood to relinquish it with a ruthless 3-0 victory over the University of Nottingham in the East Midlands.
Camryn Carfino made 16 kills as the Palatinates ran out 25-19, 25-23, 25-17 winners, while Sydney Stevens (nine kills, four blocks) and Taylor Litteken (eight kills and five blocks) were effective at the net.
December’s Player of the Month, Malea Stanton, enjoyed another excellent game to be chosen as her team’s MVP, successfully setting 34 of her 90 attempts and also serving two aces.
Martina Van Gorp, who made 10 kills and nine digs, was MVP for UON.
Behind Durham, Essex Rebels made the most of playing and winning twice over the weekend and Sideout Polonia being without a game to lift themselves up to second spot.
First, on Saturday, they were comfortable 3-0 victors at home to Coventry and Warwick Riga (25-16, 25-14, 25-22).
Karthryn Attar led the kills count with 12 and served two aces, as well as successfully receiving serve on all 12 of her attempts and making four digs.
Setter Ellen Floyd was named MVP for the Rebels after 22 successful assists from 55 attempts and also making 10 digs and serving one ace.
For Coventry, Ekin Ozerciyes served three aces and completed 10 kills to be picked as her side’s MVP.
On Sunday, Essex were made to work a little harder in their 3-1 success over Darkstar Derbyshire.
The hosts coasted through the first two sets in Colchester, winning them 25-18, 25-14, but the visitors showed they were made of stern stuff as they hit back to take the third 25-21.
But that was as good as it got from Darkstar as the Rebels closed out the match by clinching the fourth set 25-18 to take their overall seasonal record to 9-4.
Malory Eagles are a point behind Essex in third, but with a game in hand, after they defeated an out-of-form Leeds Gorse 3-0.
The visitors made things close in the opening set before the Londoners took it 25-22.
But that set loss seemed to break their spirit and the Eagles soared to 25-17, 25-13 set wins thereafter.
Eileen Shi was voted as Malory’s MVP while Molly van Essen took the honours for Gorse.
The other match in the women’s competition saw Cambridge ARU (pictured top) maintain their mid-table status with victory over a London Lionhearts side still searching for their first win of the season.
The visitors returned home from the capital with a 3-1 success under their collective belts, led by an MVP performance from Mallory Porcher.
ARU took the crucial first set 26-24, but were pegged back when London levelled by taking the second 25-17.
Back came Cambridge to reassert their control with a 25-21 third set win and they also triumphed 25-15 in the fourth. Alison Youlten was MVP for the hosts.
In the men’s competition, Malory Eagles went top of the table for the first time this season with a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Leeds Gorse.
However, they have played four more games than unbeaten second placed IBB Polonia, so their stay at the summit is likely to be a temporary one.
Malory cruised through the first set, winning it 25-12, but were made to work harder from then on before adding the second and third sets 25-20, 25-19.
With 10 kills, successfully returning serve on all 15 occasions, serving one ace, making two blocks and completing four digs, Cameron Carrington was named MVP for an all-action performance.
Nathan Fullerton was also to the fore for the Eagles with 14 kills, an ace, four blocks and five digs.
For Leeds, Dan Thompson made 12 out of 13 service return attempts, completed six kills and made two blocks and six digs to be selected as MVP.
Durham Palatinates posted their third successive 3-1 victory, this time on the road at the University of Nottingham, mirroring the success of their women’s team against the same opponents.
Brad Peters put in a fine performance in recording 11 kills, two aces, 12 from 12 serve return attempts, three blocks, six digs and five from 16 assists.
Grant Maleski weighed in with 17 kills and two blocks, while Ace Backer claimed 10 kills and three blocks for the Palatinates, who are third in the table.
Home libero Andre Castro was his team’s MVP after 20 of 22 successful service returns and 17 digs.
One place further back from Durham are the Essex Rebels who were 3-1 Sunday victors over Stockport.
The home side had to dig deep, however, after they lost a hard-fought first set 25-23 before coming through to take the next three 25-18, 25-21, 25-21.
William Ragland was chosen as Essex’s MVP, while Bartosz Baran got the vote for the visiting side.
Richmond Docklands (pictured above) are fifth in the table after taking their overall record to 5-5 with an impressive 3-0 success at Newcastle Staffs.
They won by scores of 25-17, 26-24 25-21 as Joao Alves led from the front to be the travelling side’s MVP, while Stefan Cowley took the honours for the beaten hosts.
To view all the weekend's Super League results in full, click here.
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To view all the weekend's Super League results in full, click here.
Follow all the Volleyball action across our social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
