Super League review (25th and 26th January) - Rebels men pull clear at top with double after Eagles defeat

Alex Porter’s side revelled in the atmosphere of a big crowd at Saturday’s Nations Unite fixture that saw the club’s men’s and women’s teams take on Durham Palatinates. 

The matches were also the third installment of Volleyball England’s Super League Live broadcast and viewers at home and in the arena watched as the Rebels were made to work hard against the reigning champions before eventually coming through in straight sets (27-27-25, 28-26, 25-22). 

Jacob Kern recorded a game-high 16 kills for the Rebels as well as serving three aces successfully making 21 out of 22 attempts to return serve and three digs, while brother Cam completed 41 assists from 83 attempts. 

Middle Daven Pascal made 10 kills and four blocks for the hosts, while the Palatinates’ Alexei Walisser and Chey Cooper both registered 13 kills. 

Libero Lefteris Ioannou (23 from 23 successful service returns, 10 digs) was the Rebels MVP while setter Andrew Boyle (37 assists from 72 attempts, eight digs) was chosen for the visitors.

On Sunday, the Rebels took on a Newcastle Knights side who have been one of the surprise packages of the season. 

The hosts powered into a two-set lead but were then edged out in the third and had to regather themselves to close out the match in the fourth (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-15). 

It was a repeat of the overall scoreline from when the two sides met in Newcastle last weekend and put the Rebels five points clear of Malory, having played a game more.

 

That increased margin is after the Eagles were beaten in a five-set thriller at the University of Nottingham, a result which revived the home side’s Final 4 hopes. 

Freddie Fairburn’s side took the first set 25-20, but the tide appeared to have turned as Malory claimed the next two 25-11, 25-17. 

However, the Green and Golds were far from finished and, after squaring the match by claiming the fourth 25-8, they carried that momentum into the decider and took it 15-10, ending the Eagles run of eight straight league wins. 

Nottingham MVP Griffin Walters served three aces, made 19 kills, successfully returned 38 out of 39 serves and made three blocks and six digs in an outstanding all-round contribution. 

Sam Peters and Lisle Costard made four blocks each and Rob Morgan had 11 kills to ably assist. 

For Malory, Nathan Fullerton was his side’s MVP after serving two aces and completing 16 kills, three blocks and 11 digs. 

At the other end of the table, Stockport continued their recent revival by earning their second consecutive victory, this time beating another side fighting the drop in IBB Polonia. 

The Greater Manchester side clinched a 3-1 victory with each of their set wins coming by just two points in a match that was keenly-contested throughout (25-23, 16-25, 27-26, 26-24). 

Stockport were missing England player Haydn Lawson, but they made light of that with libero Chester Searle being nominated as MVP after successfully completing all 23 attempts to return serve as well as six digs. 

The kills were shared around as Esosa Obayuwana and Alin Claudiu Firtat claimed 11 each, Matt Birch 10 and Milosz Budzilko nine. 

Filip Denchev served three aces, made seven successful service returns from eight, nine kills, two blocks and four digs for IBB. 

It was not such a great weekend for Essex Blaze, who suffered double defeat that leaves them level on eight points with Stockport and Polonia. 

First, they lost in five sets at Richmond Docklands, which was an important win for the Londoners and arrests their recent slide. 

The hosts twice lead only to be pegged back before coming through to take the tie break set decisively (25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-27, 15-8). 

Oleksandr Kobylianskyi was nominated as MVP for Richmond and Nathan French took the honours for Essex. 

Blaze also lost in their home match with London Giants, who have begun the New Year in excellent form. 

Essex took the first set but that was as good as it got for them as the visitors then reeled off three sets on the spin to secure the points (20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-20). 

Four teams – including Docklands and the Giants – now have 15 points each and a seven-point cushion to the bottom three teams. 

In the MAAREE Women’s Super League, the top two teams, Team SideOut Polonia and Malory Eagles both won two games and claimed maximum points to stay out in front. 

Leaders Polonia had few problems in seeing off the challenge of winless Wessex (25-17, 25, 21, 25-11) who look destined to return to Division 1 after just one season in the top flight. 

Polonia MVP Kasey Bell served three aces and completed four kills and three blocks, while Anna Rantala (10 kills, three blocks), Valeria Busquets (10 kills, one block) supported well, while Anni Joritikka was MVP for Wessex. 

Mark Kontopoulos’ side were pushed harder by Leeds Gorse in their Sunday game, but eventually won out in four sets (25-8, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18). 

Yulia Tokarenko was selected as MVP for Polonia, while Eva Borrowdale was chosen for Leeds.

 

Malory faced an East Midlands double over the weekend, first taking on the University of Nottingham, whom they overpowered 25-12, 25-14, 25-20. 

Darkstar Derbyshire were the Sunday opponents and this time the Eagles triumphed by a 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 scoreline. 

Hajar El Alouani was MVP for the home side and Chloe Allen was picked out for the victorious visitors. 

It was also an excellent weekend for Lionhearts Vinarius, who maintained third place with double home victories, carrying them to a 9-4 season record. 

They were pushed all the way on Saturday by a Leeds Gorse side who could at least make the long trip home knowing they had a point to show for their efforts. 

The hosts seemed to be coasting as they put themselves two sets to the good, but the West Yorkshire club hit back strongly to level at 2-2 before Lionhearts took a nail-biting tie-break by just two points (25-14, 25-14, 24-26, 16-25, 15-13). 

Maggie Steward was MVP for the eventual winners and Borrowdale, one of two for the weekend, for Gorse. 

Things proved to be a little easier for Vinarius on Sunday when after dropping the first set to Durham Palatinates they took the next three (19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21). 

Maria Sviridova was named as MVP for Vinarius and Renae Regal for Durham. 

Essex Rebels are fourth after they clinched Super League Live victory over Durham on Saturday at the Essex Sports Arena. 

The hosts took the first set, but Durham promptly levelled and only then did Alex Chinery’s side pull away to win in four (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-22). 

Chelsea Simmons made four blocks, completed 55 of 119 assists attempts and made nine digs to be the Rebels’ MVP, while Kathea Schamblin hit 24 kills in just four sets of play, as well as successfully completing all 20 service return attempts and making nine digs. 

For the North East club, Claire Cossarini was MVP after serving 2 aces, completing 13 kills and making four blocks and six digs. 

Despite defeat to Malory, Darkstar did have some success over the weekend, digging out a five-set success against Cambridge ARU. 

Maria Bertelli’s side crucially took the first two sets by just two points, but ARU stormed back to level the match at 2-2. 

The match could have gone either way at that point, but it was the Derbyshire side who pulled out all the stops to edge the decider for an overall 26-23, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 15-12 victory. 

Despite the result, Darkstar are still in eighth place, six points adrift of Durham in seventh spot. 

Essex v Durham images by Keeran Marquis (@kdp.sports). University of Nottingham v Malory Eagles images by Evelyn Lee (@_evelyn.pov).

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