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Tonight the Aussies lost in 5 sets
25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 7-15
The Australian ‘91 Junior Men won their 2nd match against New Zealand tonight
3-1 25-22, 25-13, 27-29, 27-25
Official Match Report to follow.
’91 Australian Junior Boys v New Zealand
‘Murray Mansfield’ Trans Tasman Cup – Match 1 – 28-09-09
AUS lost to NZL 2:3 (26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 8-15)
AUS Starting Line-up (and points scored): Bell (3)(QLD), Lowe (3)(NSW), Clewes (10)(SA), Lillywhite (8)(WA), L. Hill © (10)(VIC), Cook (14)(QLD), McEwen (libero)(SA)
Substitutes: Simmonds (2)(WA), Moeller (0)(QLD), Winzar (2)(VIC), Douglas-Powell (13)(QLD)
In the first match of the 2009 ‘Murray Mansfield’ Tran Tasman Cup, Australia faltered at the final hurdle, losing 8-15 in the fifth set in front of a parochial Auckland crowd.
Australia were off to a flyer in the first set of the match courtesy of a Lowe kill block followed by consecutive aces to Bell. Once the New Zealanders found their feet however, the set was very closely contested, the Kiwis leading at the first technical timeout 8-7 on the back of some strong transition attack. Seven Australian errors in the next phase of play would have seen a blowout on the scoreboard, but for a Clewes ace to keep the Aussies in touch as they trailed 15-16 at the second technical. A run of opposition errors helped when Bell registered a block saw Australia take the lead for the first time in the set at 21-20. A well earned transition kill to L. Hill closing the first set 26-24.
It appeared that the Australians were going to continue with their charge early in the second set, a sideout kill and then a kill block to Cook in the first two rallies (2-0). The Kiwis defended well though, repeatedly thwarting the Australian outsides on attack, subsequent transition plays seeing the Australians trail 5-8 at the first technical. Debutante Douglas-Powell made his presence felt, a strong kill block closing the gap by one at the second technical timeout (14-16). Despite some strong attack through Cook and Clewes, the Australian team was unable to establish any real momentum and the gap remained through to the end of the set, 23-25.
A slow start to the third set by the Australians saw them trail 4-8 at the first technical timeout, even though they had only made one error up to this point. The team found their rhythm during the second phase of the set courtesy of two Douglas-Powell kills and an L. Hill block, however the margin continued to grow, 11-16. A run of late errors by the New Zealand team gave the Australians a sniff at stealing the set 18-19. However two Australian attacks found the block and ended the set 23-25 in favour of the hosts.
The fourth set saw a dramatic improvement in the execution of skills and tactics by the Australian team, Lillywhite quick out of the blocks with two sideout kills and consecutive kill blocks helping the team out to an 8-4 lead. Another short lapse in concentration brought about 5 errors and allowed the Kiwis to close slightly, although kills to Clewes and Cook managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over for Australia as they entered the second technical timeout 16-14. Four late blocks, two each to Douglas-Powell and Cook re-established a healthy Australian lead as they sent the match to a deciding set with a 25-19 fourth set win.
Despite their dominance in the previous set, the Australians were unable to play at the level required, making consecutive errors to open the set. The Australian team forced to take their first timeout after their opposition transitioned well to lead 3-0. A rattled Australian team struggling through the fifth set, trailing 4-8 at the change of ends. Things did not improve for the visitors as they made a further four errors to gift the set to their New Zealand counterparts 8-15.
The series continues with match 2 in Tauranga (a two and a half hour drive south east of Auckland) where the Australian team will look to improve on their initial performance against a powerful New Zealand team.
Statistics
Attack – Team 32% kill 14% error (18%ke) Cook 55% kill (20) 15% error
Block – Team 14 kills, Cook and Douglas-Powell 3 kills each
Passing – Team 2.15 46% perfect 6% error, Simmonds 2.50 (8) 63% perfect 0% error
Serving – Team 1.76 6 aces 8 errors, Lillywhite 2.38 (8), Simmonds 2.20 (5), Bell 1.94 (16); Bell and Lillywhite 2 aces each
Best players – Cook, Douglas-Powell
Fresh off the plane, the Australian ‘91 Junior Men’s team went down in 5 sets tonight.
26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 8-15
Match report to follow
Training this morning was 6.30am Local time in a rather wet and windy Auckland
New Team member Tom Douglas- Powell (Qld) was presented with his Australian playing top, at this mornings team meeting by Head Coach Steve Benson. Coach benson reminded the players of the pride and responsibility that comes with wearing the Green and Gold, and that he was expecting a tough matchup with the Kiwis this comming match.
Also announced this morning was the Team Captain for this tour. Luke Hill (Vic) has been appointed to the position.
First Test match will be this evening, 7.00pm Local.
‘91NYB Australian Head Coach Steve Benson (Vic) has this morning issued instructions for all Team and coaching Staff that the uniform for today will consist of anything that contains Blue and White stripes or/and hoops.
Further, he requests that if anyone knows the location of Dan Illot (VIC), could they please ask him where the Tigers finished this year.
He further advised that Team member Craig Lowe’s (AIS/NSW) court time will be very limited this next week if the wrong team manages to fluke a win this afternoon’s Grand Final.
Head Coach Steve Benson has advised that following advise from AIS medical staff ‘91NYB Team member William Mercer (AIS/Qld) will be unable to travel to New Zealand for next weeks Trans-Tasman Series.
Mercer will miss the tour, and will remain in Canberra for rest and treatment, in order to be fit for the AVL season. The Team will now tour with 11 players.
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