East London Sport Men’s 2nd Volleyball Team secured a semi-final spot after a comfortable victory over Chichester University at home.
The game saw a slow start from the home side who ended up winning in three straight sets thanks to a stand out performance by outside hitter and captain, Thomas Clemens.
Mid-way into the first game, ELS picked up momentum which saw some important blocks and smashes from Clemens and middle hitter, James Ennew that finished 25-12.
Man of the match, Clemens spoke after the game and sounded confident going into the semi-finals.
Good Game
He said: “I actually expected the game to be harder. It was a good game, you know we just did what we normally do every single game.
“Semis next, I don’t know who we play yet, but you know what we’re going to win anyway.
“We might as well chill for now but as we get closer to the game, we will get serious and get our head in the game”, he said.
Thwarted Comeback
Chichester seemed to be making a comeback in the second game as they held a four-point lead for most of the set.
Both sides had an ebb and flow rally that seemed to last forever for spectators, but it was finished off when Chichester’s Andrew Holgate smashed the ball into ELS’s Lewis Dunford who couldn’t keep it in play.
Some timeout decisions were called and alterations in the ELS side saw them beginning to exploit the weaknesses from Chichester’s Rodel Rivera and Vinicius Stefan who kept giving the home side cheap points.
A couple of dummy shots and connections made between setter Luke Hill and Libero Luke Elbishlawi, helped turn the second game around as ELS went on to win the set.
That second-set victory saw a Chichester side that lost belief going into the final game which ELS capitalised on and picked up a comfortable win that ended 25-13.
Captain Clemens also spoke about his stand-out performance and gave a very humble response.
He said: “I don’t care about my performance, it’s a team performance and we all won and it’s not an individual effort.
“The most important thing is that we won and that’s all that is important to me.”
Next Up
ELS will look to continue their winning ways when they face Brunel University next Wednesday.
