Sunday evening saw the return of Premier League local volleyball at a surprisingly empty Bell’s Sports Centre on Sunday evening.
The six-team league got underway with Perth sides Eagles taking on Dodgy Spikers. Les Sikora’s Eagles featured a welcome introduction of local youngsters in their squad with Stuart Anderson’s Dodgy Spikers also having new faces in their ranks. The opening flurries were fairly evenly contested until the score reached ten points each. Spikers then went on to score a run of points to put them in the lead with the score progressing to 25-20. The second set saw a similar pattern of play with the score tied at 13 points each before Spikers took more control to run out winners 25-18.
Eagles then took on a youthful Team Fife, again with many youngsters in their squad. It was Eagles who just edged the first set 25-23 but the second set saw the Fife youngsters lead 19-16 at full time for a split result.
Kinross opened their premier season against Team Fife and the first set was really quite thrilling for both sets of players with Team Fife seeming to be heading for a comfortable first set lead at 24-19 but a Kinross comeback saw the scores draw level at 26 points each with the Fife side edging victory 28-26.Kinross then faced Iain Cook’s Perth Volleyball Club side made up of youngsters who have been attending the Tuesday evening training sessions at Perth High School. The first set was evenly contested with the score reaching 21 points each before Kinross won out 25-21. The second set saw Kinross lead 16-14 with three minutes to play and the Perth youngsters stunned their local rivals by scoring four consecutive points to lead 17-16 in another split result.
The Perth youngsters then met Ian McGrath’s Mental Blocks with the Blockers proving too strong for their opponents in the first set, winning 25-12. The second set saw the Perth youngsters step up a gear to lead 16-13 with two minutes remaining. Blockers pulled out all the stops to score four points without reply to pip the Perth youths 17-16.
The final game of the evening saw local rivals Mental Blocks and Dodgy Spikers face each other and as with their meetings in seasons past, the first set was finely balanced at 18 points each before Spikers crept ahead to win 25-22. The second set was equally close but again Spikers did just enough to scrape ahead 18-15 at the final whistle.
This Sunday sees the local Recreational League teams back in action at Perth College with Jayne Cafferty’s league challengers Nae Fear looking to consolidate their position with games against St Juan and Motley Crew. Current league leaders Plus Perth have played two more games than the rest and have a free Sunday this set of fixtures.
6 pm Aberfeldy v Kinross High School (Crieff)
Kinross v St Juan (Motley Crew)
6:42 pm Kinross v Motley Crew (Strathallan)
Kinross High School v Tay Pearls (St Juan)
7:24 pm Aberfeldy v Strathallan (Crieff)
St Juan v Tay Pearls (Nae Fear)
8:06 pm Strathallan v Motley Crew (Kinross)
Nae Fear v Crieff (Kinross)
8:48 pm Strathallan v Crieff (Aberfeldy)
Nae Fear v Motley Crew (Tay Pearls)
No games: Plus Perth Mental Health