Double success

Oct 29 2009 by Sandra Walls, Hamilton Advertiser

BOTH North Lanarkshire Volleyball Club teams were comfortable winners at the weekend.

NL ladies faced Brannock High against newly-promoted South Ayrshire.

The opening set was evenly balanced at 15-13 to the visitors before a strong set-up from NL moved them to a 20-15 lead. Ayrshire came back with some strong serving and sensible hitting, but the home attack, together with the experience of setter Aileen Hall, meant NL took the set 26-24.

NL started strongly in the second set and quickly opened up a nine-point lead, allowing the coach to pitch in Kim Campbell, the least experienced member of the squad. They eventually won the set 25-17. NL took the third set 25-22 to win the match.

Bellshill Cardinals faced a very strong Pentland NUVOC and, although the county side should have been underdogs, they took the first set 25-20.

Pentland took the second set 25-22 but the third and fourth sets were a lesson from Bellshill in sensible but powerful hitting and serving, allowing them to take the match 25-18 and 25-20.

With the match wrapped up the fifth set was a formality but NUVOC won 15-11. The win takes Cardinals to joint-second place in the Second Division.

This weekend, Cardinals visit Lenzie in the Scottish Cup second round, while NLVC are away to City of Edinburgh in the Top Teams’ Cup.