Chelmsford volleyballers see game slip away in the fifth (From Gazette)

Chelmsford volleyballers see game slip away in the fifth

7:20am Thursday 23rd October 2008 in Search

In their latest Essex Division 1 match, Chelmsford Volleyball Club fought for two hours with a young Tendring team only to see the result slip away in an extended fifth deciding set. Mildmay Centre at Anglia Ruskin Uni cannot have seen a better game since it opened only a few years ago with the set scores of 25-20, 23-25, 20-25, 27-25, 16-18 showing just how little there was to choose between the teams.

Set one saw Chelmsford field an experienced first six of Anash Vora and Cengiz Turkoglu outside hitters, Mike Parkinson and Steve Peacock middle hitters with the setting duties falling to captain John Hill alongside the only newcomer Attwell Mlilo. Tendring made too many unforced errors and allowed Chelmsford to dominate the end of the set to go 1-0 up. Set two was even closer and neither side could gain an advantage. Up to 23 points all the set was there for the taking but Tendring finished off with an excellent block. Set three was a similar story except both sides started to mix power with guile. The result was 25-20 to Tendring taking them 2 sets to 1 up. They continued into the fourth set on fire and pounded away for a 23-18 lead. Looking to have the game in the bag, Chelmsford’s Attwell suffered a finger injury when blocking and they were forced to substitute. Paul Bohannan, supported by Vora and Turkoglu, inched Chelmsford back to 23-23. The home team held their nerve and eventually forced the error to take the set 27-25.

At the end it was Tendring that took the honours 18-16 after 1 hour 57 minutes.