Match Report
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Volleyball v 1st Mountjoy (NI Cup, QF)Volleyball v 1st Mountjoy
23/01/2008
(Northern Ireland Cup, Quarter Final)
This seasons Northern Ireland Cup began at the Quarter Final stage, and Knocknamuckley had to make the journey down to Mountjoy for their first game in the competition. The Northern Ireland Cup is a competition which Knocknamuckley have a wonderful record in down the years in volleyball, and again entered harbouring ambitions of lifting the trophy once again.
The first set started off well for Knocknamuckley, and thanks to a good run of serves from Stephen Russell they were able to open a comfortable cushion. They managed to maintain a cushion throughout the set, winning it by 25 points to 18.
First Set 1st Mountjoy 18 v 25 1st Knocknamuckley
It was Mountjoy who made the better start to the set on this occasion, and found themselves leading 10-1 at one point. Knocknamuckley were too inconsistent during this set, but did begin to pull back the deficit throughout, with Colin Irwin playing particularly well. Unfortunately though, this was not enough, and Mountjoy took the second set to force the match into a decider.
Second Set 1st Mountjoy 25 v 22 1st Knocknamuckley
In the third and final set it was always going to be important to try and establish a lead, rather than try and chase the game in such an important set. Knocknamuckley managed to do this early on, going four points in front. Despite four points not being much of a cushion, this appeared to stay roughly the same throughout, with neither team managing to string a number of points together, either to pull away, in Muckley's case, or draw level in the case of Mountjoy. Graham Cowan played well in this set and helped Knocknamuckley to hold on to this lead right until the end.
Third Set 1st Mountjoy 21 v 25 1st Knocknamuckley
This was a good win from the Knocknamuckley team, captained by Seth Mathers, with some good performances from the players, including Simon Grey, who played very consistently throughout. They now await the draw for the semi-finals, to see who stands between them and a place in the final.
Result 1st Mountjoy 1 v 2 1st Knocknamuckley
Team: Mathers, Cowan, Grey, A.Irwin, C.Irwin, Russell; N.Adamson.
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