AUS JNR Men dominate first Trans Tasman game - Match Report
Australia played New Zealand in the first game of the three game series for the Murray Mansfield Cup in the Trans Tasman series in Mildura yesterday evening.
Sunraysia Volleyball put on a great event with a large and vocal crowd cheering the Australia Team to a 3-0 win (25-22, 25-15, 25-23).
Starting Line up and points scored: Welsh (3), Leathart (17), Morrow (2), Power (5), Swallow (11), Guymer (5). Halley (Libero) Subs: Wiliiams (8), Matters (1), Mason (2), Hone (3), Staples (0), Borgeaud (DNP), Millers (DNP).
The first set started strongly for the Australian team with Chris Morrow getting the team going with a kill and block. The team then built on this start and went into the first technical time out ahead 8-4 on the back of some strong serving from Leathart. The team kept up the pressure through two transition kills to Swallow and a kill block to Guymer. Leading 16- 10 at the second timeout the team lost focus and gave up a number of easy points to the Kiwi’s with hitting and passing errors; the Kiwi’s needed no invitations and capitalise on the Australian errors through a number of transition kills themselves. A double sub with Williams and Mattters, coming on for Welsh and Power, helps to steady the Australian team with kills to Swallow and Williams closing out the first set for Australia 25-22.
With one change to the starting line up for Australia with Williams starting coming in for Power the team established a early lead through strong pressure at the block and some good defensive work by Libero Halley. The Australian team kept the pressure on with kills through the middle to Guymer and Morrow to lead 8-5 at the first tech timeout, Coach Georgieff rang some changes with Hone and local Mildura boy Brad Mason coming on with good effect. A service Ace to Williams and transition kill to Leathart further extended the Australian lead to 4 at the second break (16-12). Blocks to Welsh and Guymer helped extended the lead as the team finished off the set quickly 25-15.
The third set starting line up included Matters, Mason, Hone and Power. Matters service pressure, three kills blocks to Leathart plus a transition kill to Power got the Australian team off to a 6-0 start. Up 8-2 at the first Tech timeout, the New Zealand team responded with some smart use of the Australian block and a number of kills in transition themselves to close the gap to 16-12. Australia steadied with a kill to Mason and a Transition kill to Hone. The team kept their composure and finished off the set with another transition kill to Leathart to take the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
Passing: Team 2.25, (Leathart 2.50, Halley 2.36)
Attack: 41%K with 21%Error for 20%KE (Swallow 50%KE, Leathart 26%KE)
Block: 15 Kill blocks, 9 positive touches and 1 error (Leathart 6, Williams, Swallow, Welsh and Guymer 2 Kill blocks each)
Serving: 1.61 with 3 aces (Guymer 2.00, Leathart 1.93 with 2 aces)
Best players: Leathart and Swallow
