| Tuesday 25th April 2006 | ||||||||
| Competition Report Four teams entered the competition, but would anyone be able to prise the trophy away from Hampton ESU? The competition started with a round robin league to sort out the seedings for the semi-finals. Game 1. First up was Magellan v Marco Polo. With both teams highly unfavoured to do well as neither seemed to have the ability to get the ball over the net the game was played with all the style and grace of a herd of mating elephants. Somehow Magellan managed to run out 21-8 winners. Game 2 Next up was the highly favoured Hampton team, organised, mean and motivated; against the unknown quantity of Shackleton, never before seen at a volleyball competition. As expected, Hampton ran out clear 21-10 winners. Game 3 Magellan then took on Shackleton. Obviously bouyed by their first game win, Magellan rather cockily changed their team, dropping their Ginger terror in favour of their mini chavette. The plan backfired when it became apparent that their substitute was scared of the ball and ran away when it came anywhere near her! Noticing this slight weakness Shackleton started aiming every ball in her direction and despite brave efforts to cover her Magellan were eventually beaten 21-17. Game 4 Marco Polo v Hampton. Another ruthless display saw Marco Polo torn apart with Hampton running out 21-8 winners. Game 5 Tipped as the battle of the night, Magellan took on Hampton. The match started evenly, Magellan had re-instated the Ginger squeaker and seemed to have found their form. A hard fought game with disputed line calls, temper tantrums and a smelly fart from one Magellan player eventually ended with Hampton running out 21-17 winners. Some of the Hampton players were then jumped on and attacked by Magellan (but all friendly of course) Game 6 Once the remains of Hampton were swept off the court the final game of the ranking section started. Marco Polo v Shackleton - the game producing an amusing mix of skill, flair and total incompetance ended with Shackleton winning by 21 points to 10. |
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| The Rankings | ||||||||
The knockout stages |
Now the teams were seeded the real battle commenced. It was 1 v 3 and 2 v 4 in the semis, so Magellan had to face the might of Hampton for a second time while Marco Polo tried to vanquish their defeat at the hands of Shackleton. Game 7 Magellan v Hampton. For some reason these 2 units seem to be competing against each other in virtually every competition. The match was hard fought, there was some good skill on show from both teams but eventually the game was deservedly won by a battling Magellan team that would not give up. 21-14 to Magellan and a place in the final. Game 8 Marco Polo v Shackleton, 2 units with the same leader! Another hard fought game with another turnaround, this time Marco Polo turned the tables on their opponents by running out 21-10 winners and securing their place in the final against Magellan. Game 9 Shackleton v Hampton - 3rd and 4 place playoff. The game was over rather quickly, Hampton obviously upset by losing to Magellan (hehe) demolished Shackleton in double quick time winning 21-10 to secure thrid place. Game 10 - The Final The final was played with a slightly different format to the others in that it was best of 3, played up to 15 points rather than 21. Magellan hit their stride straight away, making light work of their opponents winning the first game 15-5. The second game was a different story entirely. Someone had woken up the winning beast inside Marco Polo as they fought for every point and neither team held more than a 2 point advantage at any time of the game. With the scores tied at 14 each the 2 points clear rule was invoked. Nerves were tense, every ball was chased and fought for as if lives depended on it and it took another 8 plays before Magellan snatched the game, and the match, with an impressive 19-17 win. The final stats |
1st - Magellan |
2nd - Marco Polo 3rd - Hampton 4th - Shackleton |