NVL review (14th April): Giants seal shot at Super League

London Giants booked themselves a play-off date with Newcastle Staffs for a place in the Men’s Super League next season after a four-set victory in their showdown with Black Country.

Both sides went into yesterday’s (Sunday 14th April) clash knowing that a 3-0 or 3-1 win would see them finish second and get the chance to take on the top-flight's ninth place finishers on 27th April at Ashcombe. 

And it was the Giants, with home court advantage, who did just that, triumphing 3-1 at Clapham Leisure Centre. 

The hosts were always in control after taking the first set 25-19 and then following it up by adding the second 25-17. 

Black Country did fight back to take the third 25-16, but in the pivotal fourth, London reasserted their authority, to clinch it 25-15, and, with it, the match. 

Elsewhere, the only other play-off place still to be claimed was in Division 2 South West and Cardiff Panthers got the victory they needed to seal it. 

In fact, just for good measure, they won both of their last two matches of the regular season, beating Reading Aces (25-15, 19-25, 25-23, 25-17) and Urbond Portsmouth (25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 25-18) by 3-1 margins.  

In doing so, they knocked long-time second placed Worthing down to third and can now look forward to vying for a place in Division 2 in just under two weeks’ time. 

In the other match of the triangular fixture, Reading came out on top 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 after a closely-contested game. 

The only other match needing to be concluded in the men’s competition was the Division 3 North Central meeting of Sheffield 2 and York Vikings. 

It saw the latter ease to 25-20, 25-21, 25-12 victory that sees them finish third in the table with a 14-4 record. 

In the women’s competition, there were just a handful of matches being played to round off 2023-24. 

A winning end to Sheffield’s season saw them beat Urmston Grammar 25-16, 25-12, 25-15 to finish clear in second spot in the Division 2 North table. 

A triangular fixture in Division 3 South East saw Reading Aces emerge with two victories, meaning they ended up third in their table. 

After dropping the first set against Spelthorne Sharks, they responded to win the next three (22-25, 25-8, 25-16, 26-24), while it was a straight sets win over Dartford Warriors (26-24, 25-20, 27-25), albeit with two of them being very close. 

The other match was a five-setter that ebbed and flowed before Spelthorne came through to take it by a two-point margin in the deciding tie break (25-22, 22-25, 12-25, 28-26, 15-13). 

Spelthorne finish fifth in the table with Dartford a place below them in sixth. 

For all the final 2023-24 NVL tables, click here.

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