Sitting Grand Prix #1 review

Sitting Bucks began their campaign with a commanding 2-0 victory (25-11, 25-19) over South Hants, the same team they defeated in the Cup Finals back in April.

Their second match was a much closer affair against Salisbury Spitfires, who pushed the reigning champions to the limit, though Bucks still managed to edge a win with a scoreline of 25-22, 25-23.

The Spitfires battled hard in all three of their matches. After losing the first set 25-15 to Help for Heroes, they regrouped to take the second 25-19, but couldn’t hold onto the final set, ultimately falling 15-9 to their opponents.

It was a tough weekend for South Hants, who struggled to rediscover the form that saw them reach last year’s finals and, after losing to Help For Heroes, they were relegated to Tier 2.

One highlight for them was a hard-fought contest against a strengthened Spitfires side, where they pushed the match to three sets before narrowly losing the decider 15-11.

Help For Heroes aimed to build on their fourth-place finish from last year and had a promising start to the competition, winning two out of three matches. In a tightly contested battle against Sitting Bucks, they narrowly missed out on a third-set victory, going down 15-13.

Tier 2 saw another four teams vying for promotion to the top tier, including Lincoln Imps and Nottingham Casualties, both of whom had experience in the top flight last season.

The Imps had a strong start, defeating Casualties 2-0 (25-22, 25-23) in a hard-fought match. This put them in good stead for their next clash against Help For Heroes B, where they continued their form with another solid 2-0 success (25-21, 25-16). They then capped off their day with a convincing 2-0 victory over the Panthers.

The Panthers, despite a difficult weekend, fought valiantly with a depleted squad, but they could not overcome Casualties or Help For Heroes B, with both matches ending in a 2-0 reverses.

Casualties, after a narrow loss to the Imps, began to find their rhythm. With some new players joining their ranks, they gelled well and bounced back to see off Help For Heroes B 2-0 (27-25, 25-19).

Heroes B, also bolstered by new additions to their squad, had a confidence-boosting weekend, securing a win over the Panthers and successfully integrating their new players.

The next Grand Prix will take place on 9th November, with entries closing on the 25th of October.

For more information on how to enter, click here.

Photos from the Grand Prix can be viewed here.

Images by Jon Cornish