MCA Powerhouse Cardinals went ''back to basics'' to take a step closer
the women's first division title in the Royal Bank Scottish Volleyball
League at the weekend.
MCA beat Paisley 15-11, 15-6, 15-8 in one of the few matches this
season they have used an exclusively Scottish line-up.
Both Norwegian international Maiken Areskjold and Sigrid Adams, who
made her name in the Belgian first division, were missing and MCA had to
call up three second-team players.
At 11-11 in the first set, MCA coach Vince Krawczyk admitted Paisley
had given his side a ''wee fright'' but confessed he had possibly
tinkered too much with his line-up at that stage.
''It's always worthwhile going back to basics,'' he insisted. ''Sigrid
is not going to be with us next season and we don't know at this stage
whether Maiken will still be here.''
''Having lost Jenny Ellis and Trish Gunn in recent weeks, it gives us
a chance to look at the resources we have.''
The bottom line for MCA is that they can wrap up the league title by
beating News Ayrshire Kyle in straight sets on March 12, and they also
have a Royal Bank Scottish Cup final with Jets to look forward to at the
end of the month.
With no league action this weekend due to international squad
training, Su Ragazzi have also inked in March 12 as the date on which
they can wrap up the men's league title.
Still unbeaten, they took just 56 minutes to beat Team Fife 15-9,
15-4, 15-9 on Saturday. Coach Tommy Dowens then took in the Jets v West
Coast match and, with Jets winning in five sets, they have virtually
handed the title to Su Ragazzi.
''Some of my young players are disappointed that they will probably
not now be facing West Coast in a big league decider in front of a
capacity crowd,'' said Dowens. ''What they have to understand is that we
are in this position because we have won all of our matches.''
Scotland will send an understrength team to the Pan European Games in
Oxford later this month to play England, Latvia, Lithuania, and the GB
Students. John Scrimgeour will coach the squad.
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