East London Men’s Volleyball beat Imperial 3-0 at Sportsdock on Wednesday, putting on a ruthless display of attacking and serving. The comfortable win sets up a showpiece event as they head to Essex in a week’s time knowing whoever wins will win the Men’s Premier division.
It was a bloodbath and by the end of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had just watched the third act of a Quentin Tarantino film, such was the slaughter East London put Imperial through.
At times you pitied the Imperial Libero and Defensive Specialist staring down the barrel of a Mikhail Stoev serve, or, equally their blockers having to jump in front of a Devion Whetstone attack from outside hitter.
When Imperial did manage to initiate a rally, more often than not, East London’s blocking trio swarmed any chance of them gaining momentum in the match.
Swiftly Putting An End To Imperials Momentum
The first set was numerically the closest of the three, and East London will be grateful to a Stoev serving masterclass which at one point won them five points in a row just as Imperial were starting to find their feet.
It was the second set when the home side started to assert their dominance. There was a clearer design to their attacks, with East London routinely using the decoy of the middle hitter to fully utilise Stoev’s frightening power from weakside hitter.
Jake Weiser did a fine job in turning defence into attack in the Libero position, and turned what appeared to be a point lost into a point gained multiple times.
Imperial made a positive start to the third set racing into a 4-0 lead courtesy of some fine blocking and serving.
Knowing that East London needed to win 3-0 overall, and sensing a potentially nervy third set, Head Coach Ian Legrand introduced Leon Davis Chambers and the Outside hitter laid waste to Imperial’s promising start, penetrating the defensive block with some vicious hitting as the home side won 25 of the next 32 points.
Rather fittingly, the match was finished with a typically powerful serve from Stoev.
All Thoughts To Next Week
After the game, Legrand’s immediate attention turned to next week’s league decider against Essex.
“We want to win it [premier division] just to say we won it. But more importantly, it means we get home draws in the quarter and semi-finals,” Legrand said.
He added, “We’re expecting a loud crowd next week, so it should be fun.”
Recent injuries and University withdrawals have made things tough for East London, but Legrand says his side “ticked all the right boxes” having to adapt to new systems in the face of these problems, and is “really pleased” with the work his side have done this week as they now look to next week’s blockbuster clash.
