In today’s fixture Oxford Men’s team confirmed its status as top of the North in the BVA league. In a repeat performance of the local derby against Didcot and Newbury earlier this spring, Oxford again saw off the local competition. However, this time the team was made to work somewhat harder.
In the first match against Didcot, Oxford had to recover from being 6 - 14 down in the second set to secure a 25 - 17, 25 - 21 victory. The second match against Newbury was even more tense. After winning the first set comfortably to 19, the team slipped to a 25 - 14 defeat in the second set. When changing over at 4 - 8 down in the tie break, things looked pretty bleak. But thanks to a strong team effort against a Newbury team refusing to let anything drop, very vocal support from the bench, and a few well placed hits from Martijn in the waning minutes of the match, Oxford once again managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and clinch the tie break 15 - 12.
A job well done all but secures Oxford Men’s team finishing the season in fifth place out of twelve teams. What makes the performance even more impressive is the fact that both opposing teams were fielding two national league registered players, while Oxford made do with just one. Even with Neil banished to the bench for the entire first match, Jon still failed to secure a player of the match nomination.
Rune
