WEYMOUTH Beach Volleyball went out of the National Shield to Cardiff Celts but secured two superb league win against City of Bristol and the Cardiff Panthers to stay top of the South West League after their latest round of fixtures.

Weymouth Beach 0

Cardiff Celts 3

Weymouth were big underdogs for their National Shield encounter as the Cardiff Celts play three divisions above them, but Weymouth are hoping to be a part of the national scene next year and made a good impact despite the loss.

The first set saw some strong serving by ex-Scotland International Sean Hendry and Liam Tewkesbury who got Weymouth off to a good start but a run of serves from the opposition evened things up.

Weymouth had a set point at 24-23 but couldn’t capitalise and, with two clear points needed, a tense exchanged ensued with Weymouth losing the first set 33-31.

There wasn’t much between the sides in the second set but Weymouth lost points in clusters which let Cardiff take the set 25-18.

Weymouth came out stronger for the third as setter Terry Oldrid ran some clever plays and distributed well but a controversial aerial call saw Cardiff take the third set 25-21 to qualify for the third round.

League leaders Weymouth then faced City of Bristol, who started the day two points behind.

Weymouth 3

City of Bristol 0

In the first set a strong run of serves from veteran Stuart Jeanes saw Weymouth establish a five-point advantage over Bristol, which they were able to maintain and close out the set 25-20.

The second set was more one-sided as setter Oldrid linked well with Sam Groom while Elliot Sawyer nullified Bristol’s attacks however, a string of unforced errors from Bristol saw Weymouth take the second set 25-16.

Weymouth took their foot of the pedal in the third set as the scores stayed tight throughout before a seemingly impossible defensive pick up by Terry Oldrid sparked Weymouth back to life as they won 25-23 to seal another 3-0 victory.

The final fixture of the weekend saw Weymouth take on bottom of the league Cardiff Panthers, which provided an opportunity for the less experienced Weymouth players to step up.

Weymouth 3

Cardiff Panthers 1

The first set saw an unsettled Weymouth side on the back foot and Hendry came on to stabilise the side but they were could not recover and lost the set 25-21.

The second set saw Weymouth more composed under the helm of captain Stuey Jeanes as libero James Taggart passed well to help setter Carl Neal link with middles Ian Denslow and Mike Powell.

Outside hitter Ben Stokey, returning from injury, played well offensively and defensively to help secure the set 25-20.

The Panthers came out strong in the third set and despite playing in every set of the weekend a good blocking display by Ian Denslow kept Weymouth in it.

Reinforcements came on in the shape of Stout and Hendry which helped Weymouth clinch the third set 27-25.

No substitutions were required in the fourth as Weymouth took the set 25-18 winning the game 3-1 to stay unbeaten in the league and sit top of the table.

Weymouth are next back on home turf at Redlands Community Sports Centre on Sunday January 7 and play second place Yeovil in a crucial match and mid-table Kernow.

Weymouth will be playing in front of sponsors Aura Nightclub and Stressless Massage, and are hopeful for another strong crowd.