Rebels Men Lose Close Game to Richmond

The Essex Rebels played Richmond Docklands at home at the Essex Sport Arena. Classically a game of ‘nearly but not quite’ for the Essex Rebels.

In the first set, Richmond got off to a strong start, taking control early on in the set, Essex had to fight hard to close the gap moving towards the 20-point mark. Unfortunately, Richmond found another gear and managed to pull away (Set score: 25:27 Richmond).

The second set was very much similar to the first with Richmond maintaining a narrow but consistent lead for the majority of the set. Once again, Richmond managed to close out the set with the Rebels unable to bring it back (set score: 22:25 Richmond).

In set 3, the Rebels were able to find it within themselves to battle on and create a lead of their own which would ultimately win them the set. This showed tremendous character and fighting spirit from the Rebels, truly a great collective effort (Set score: 25:19).

This fresh injection of confidence and belief was also transferred into the next set where the Rebels securely maintained control of the game and were therefore able to win comfortably (Set score: 25:16).

With the playing field level at 2 sets a piece, both teams headed into the 5th set. Richmond started off the set with high service pressure which secured them an early lead and put the Rebels on the backfoot. The Rebels persevered and fought until the very end, however, the lead created by Richmond early on in the set proved too much to recover from. Richmond won the 5th set (Set score 10:15) and the game.

This was a tremendous display of character from the Rebels as reflected in the comeback from being down 2 sets to nothing. The next home game for the Essex Rebels is on the 2nd of April against the Malory Eagles.

MVP: Christian Christie