Round 5: NSW Phoenix vs TAS Echidnas

Men’s Matches
Match 1: 3-0 NSW Phoenix
Match 2: 3-1 NSW Phoenix
Round 5 of AVL started with some challenges for the NSW Phoenix with a cancellation of flight and detour via Melbourne on Saturday morning requiring the match start times be delayed.

The Phoenix men stepped onto court and brought with them their usual aggressive style of play with a few early unforced errors. Strong attack by Tim Taylor and some great passing by Ben Genenger help the NSW boys recover and push ahead through the later stages of the first set. The second set saw a more controlled Phoenix team, where level heads stopped the echidnas from getting a look in. The third set looked much more like the first with Phoenix taking an early lead and Tasmania continuing to close the score gap and looking like they were going to run away with the set. A few changes in line up and some exceptional offence by Sean Bosschieter helped fight back in an incredible atmosphere where the Tasmanian Echidnas could not handle the pressure in the final moment bringing some late errors and NSW taking the set 26-24 and the match 3-0.

The second day Tasmania started strong with an extremely low error count, putting continuous pressure on the Phoenix who dropped the first set of the match. In Phoenix style, the boys rose to the challenge and delivered a much more dominant second set leading from the beginning with Nick Thorpe, Kel Nolan and captain Ben Abbott bringing some needed stability to the team. An absolutely incredible third set saw a battle by both teams determined to take the lead in the match. The Tasmanian crowd created an incredible atmosphere again with the Phoenix bench and women’s team barracking hard along side the team. Some tense referee decisions showed and emotional reactions to play showed how badly both teams wanted the set, but the Phoenix showed again that they have learnt from the earlier rounds of the season and held their nerve to carry through to a 29-27 win. Still high on emotion both teams continued to fight for the fourth set, before Asim Ali took the court late in the set to deliver some great offence and impenetrable blocking pushing the boys to a 3-1 victory and NSW taking all 4 wins for the weekend.

A strong team performance, and a lot of growth for the Phoenix men over the AVL season so far will see the teams compete against the Melbourne Vipers next week on location at the central coast.

Women’s Matches

Match 1: 3-0 NSW Phoenix

Match 2: 3-0 NSW Phoenix

First of all, a big congratulations to Tasmania for serving the whole game really aggressively and playing at a high level throughout the game.

We are extremely happy with the way the Phoenix women played the game, even when our reception wasn’t perfect, we found creative and positive solutions in attack. A true credit to our setters who were able to salvage points in critical and difficult moments.

A big round of applause to Emma Sargent and Jenny Yang who were called on the court during very critical moments and achieved excellent results in a high pressure environment.

Lacey Bruce played a great game on Sunday scoring 10 points total with 5 blocks and 5 attacks.

We are happy to play a beautiful brand of volleyball and above all to play together and improve game after game.

Phoenix are set for another round of huge matches this weekend on the Central Coast against a strong side in the Melbourne Vipers. Catch them live at Niagara Park Stadium or on Cluch TV.