WEYMOUTH 3

MANCHESTER MARVELS 2

WEYMOUTH remain top of the National League Division One table after winning a five-set thriller against Manchester Marvels at Redlands.

Marvels came into the game bottom of the standings but showed all their fighting qualities in battling back from 2-0 down, only to fall in the decider.

Weymouth started the match by resting Valdis Baranovs, struggling with a niggling ankle injury, but this did not seem to effect the team as they raced away to a 2-0 lead.

Weymouth were dominating in all departments but it was particularly good to see Liam Tewkesbury back to his best after missing a number of matches through injury and new signings Zoltan Hegedus and Seb Smith both looking to have successfully settled into the side.

READ MORE: London Aces 2-3 Weymouth - report

In the third set, Weymouth looked to be cruising to a convincing win as Manchester made a number of unforced errors and Weymouth led 20-15.

However, at this point a combination of poor errors by Weymouth and decisive substitutions by Manchester let Marvels back into the match and they took the set 26-24.

The fourth set was the closest set of the match as Weymouth coach Stuart Jeanes was forced to introduce Baranovs to the line-up to try to give the team more experience and firepower.

At the same time, Manchester became very consistent and stopped making their earlier mistakes.

The set went point-for-point up until 23-23 when both sides had set points but Manchester just edged the crucial points to win 25-23.

Needing a good start in the decider, Weymouth got just that with Baranovs showing why he is so important to the team with some great outside hits giving Weymouth a halfway lead of 8-6.

Ryan Stout then hit a great couple of serves to stretch Weymouth’s lead and they never looked back to take the set and match 15-11.

Weymouth still lead the Division One table but with both London Aces and Stockport having games in hand Weymouth will really need to win all of their five remaining matches to stay at the top.

Weymouth’s last two home fixtures of the season in March are against these two which could be a thrilling finish to the campaign.

Weymouth are at home again this Saturday when they take on Richmond at Redlands (1.30pm).

All spectators are very welcome and admission is free.