For the third match of the season, IBB Polonia London played against the reigning champions of England Durham Palatinates and took all three points by winning 3-1 at Northolt High School.
It was point for point at the start of the match with a number of errors from both teams. Soon IBB Polonia London started to pick apart the defence of the opponents and with devastating effect from the service line by Andrea Maggio, Ephraim Mills and Diego Tamburini, exposed vulnerabilities in the serve receive unit of the champions. The hosts soon built on their advantage with strong attacking from the MVP of the last game Dahmane Bentiti. The first set was over quickly 25-18 in favour of Greg Niski and his team.
The champions increased their efforts in the second set, protecting the weaker elements of their receive unit, and motivated themselves. The fans consisting predominantly of the Official Supporters Club of IBB Polonia London witnessed a resurgence and the second set going in favour of Durham 22-25.
The third and fourth sets were always in favour of Niski’s team; the fervent cheering and drumming by the fans carried the IBB Polonia players to a swift couple of sets and with it the game was won 3;1.
MVP of the match was Number 10; Mihail Stoev.
„We played well and convincingly beat the reigning champions of England. Despite the many new faces in their team, Durham remain a challenging proposition. we have a lot of improvements to make still until we really play like a well oiled machine; but we started and ended this game very impressively. Despite the loss of the second set, we were in control in the other sets and this was down to the way our setter made decisions on court. He was electric to watch from the start to the end. “ concluded Chris Hykiel: Director of Volleyball.
That makes three wins out of three games in the Superleague. The next challenge comes in the form of Nottingham University on 5th November at 4.30pm at the home venue (Northolt High School). Greg Niski and his players keenly invite everyone to come along and have some fun!
