Tendring Heatec 1 – 3 Brentwood
13-25, 18-25, 25-21, 16-25
Report by Rob Sharman
Sunday 30th September was the start of the season for Tendring Heatec, there first introduction to EVL Division 1.
Nerves were high for Tendring and due to shift patterns many of the players were meeting for the first time as a full team.
Some old faces had returned to Tendring Heatec but were most welcome. After a successful first season in Division 2, most of the players were unsure what the jump up would bring. Brentwood, initially unable to make a team due to injuries, managed at the final hour to scrape 6 players together. Tendring Heatec, thinking we would get a default victory were sorely disappointed!
Tendring Heatec on the other hand had a full squad of 12 players and coach Porter sorted out the starting 6.
After a nervous start, Brentwood took an early lead and errors made by Tendring Heatec made Brentwoods job a lot easier. Service errors and an usually very quiet team didn’t help Tendring Heatec with their game. Brentwood took the first set with relative ease, Tendring Heatec taking an age to settle and find there pace.
Set 2 unfortunately was of a similar vein to the first, several substitutions didn’t seem to resolve the problem, and further service errors like serving to Brentwood’s best receiver didn’t help! Despite numerous comments from coach Porter, Porter realising that his team were doing the exact opposite of what he was suggesting!
Tendring Heatec managed to find a steady pace, calming things down, some good pick ups and recoveries coming from the home team but once again some silly errors making the Brentwood teams job far easier than it should have been. Brentwood played well and their lead helped them relax and play without pressure. A closer set and Tendring Heatec slowly started to get their game together, unfortunately it came too late with Brentwood winning the second set.
Set 3, further substitutions for Tendring Heatec put on a nearly new team, the pressure was on and Tendring Heatec finally showed what they were capable of, Brentwood were still playing consistently with few errors. In this set, the morale of Tendring Heatec was much better and this showed by Tendring Heatec relaxing and taking the third set.
Set 4, Brentwood serving, grabbed them an early lead, Tendring Heatec unfortunately couldn’t maintain the spirit from the previous set and more errors occurred, Brentwood again played well with some good volleyball being played by Tendring. The set was lost to Brentwood.
Overall, Tendring Heatec played well in their first outing as a team, it just boiled down to two things, consistency and following the game plan. The team was just starting to gel on the fourth set and finding there game, appears to be Tendring Heatec’s tradition that we take time to settle and find our game. Shame it came too late. A promising start for a new team with potential to do well in Division 1.
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