WEM2 back on track

White Eagles men's second team hosted Polonia hoping for a referee who knew the rules and a better showing than the last time they played the men from Ealing.

A makeshift starting six took to the court for the first set with setter Radu CINPOES playing middle hitter, but despite only having seven in the hall coach Carlos JOHNSON opted to use the returning Fabio ANTONIAZZI as libero. The set started gently, with both teams settling in well and trading points until JOHNSON came around to serve. By moving the receive around he was able to add 5 points to take Eagles clear. With Robbert VAN HEEL attacking with energy both front and back court WE were not going to surrender the lead and with Wolfram LANGE adding more with assists from the blocking of CINPOES Eagles took the set 25-20.

With Dammy BAKARE having arrived midway through the previous set, JOHNSON opted to make the change and bring him on court for CINPOES. The passing unit provided quality ball for JOHNSON who was able to use all of the attacking power on show for M2. Eagles pulled out an early lead which Polonia ate into and by midway through the set were even again. Tension crept into WE and thoughts returned to the previous games where good positions had been thrown away. Not this time however, as Eagles rallied and started to chip away at the 6 point lead a couple of points at a time. With the scores at 19-23, David JENKINSON started serving and opted to put the Polonia libero under pressure. The tactic worked and soon Eagles were 24-23 up. With both teams knowing this was going to be a key set, neither were willing to let it go easily but the final point was won by VAN HEEL taking the set 26-24 for Eagles.

With WE settled, the third set was time for showboating. A strong pass again offered JOHNSON the ability to pick his sets but this time he opted to run combinations and backcourt attacks. VAN HEEL hit anything that was thrown towards him and Polonia had no answer to his power. When they did manage to set a block, the Dutch player tooled the ball off of them. When they didn't, he hit with pace into the spaces left on court. With the score at 16-9 JOHNSON set a combination middle attack. With the block concerned about BAKARE, JENKINSON came in to kill the ball which gave the supporters more to cheer about. After this, there was no way Eagles were going to surrender and only surrendered one more point before sealing the set 25-10.

The game was definitely pay back for the away game, where Eagles managed to squander the game through lack of preparation, and also goes some way to restore confidence in the team given a poor run of results. Hopefully WE will be able to build from here and go on to secure a top half finish in the league.

WEM2 beat Polonia Panthers 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-10)

SQUAD

Fabio ANTONIAZZI (Libero)
Dammy BAKARE
Radu CINPOES
David JENKINSON (Captain)
Carlos JOHNSON (Coach)
Wolfram LANGE
Paolo MARANHAO
Robbert VAN HEEL

MAN OF THE MATCH

Robbert VAN HEEL