It was a local volleyball derby last night at Loch Leven Community Campus when Kinross hosted near neighbours Perth in their fourth and final fixture of the East Regional Volleyball League.
The home side were without a number of players due to work commitments and Perth too were affected in this way. Both sides are to be commended for the introduction of youngsters into their sides with seven school aged boys on court to gain valuable competitive play experience.
Kinross captain Andrew Hutchison and his Perth counterpart Gregor Walker tossed for serve with the home side winning the choice and opting to serve first. The opening flurries were strewn with errors with the score rising to 6-4 in favour of the home side. Kinross then started a period of more settled play and moved 16-9 ahead. Perth coach Douglas Crockart called a time-out in an attempt to settle the visiting side’s erratic play. It was to no avail as Kinross continued to dominate through regular scoring from their middle hitters John Booth and Roy Munro to win the ope
ning set 25-10.
Darren Menzies came into the starting six for Perth, the second set starting with Jarek Deja serving for Perth but they failed to capitalise and were soon on the receiving end of attacks from the home side. Smart play from the home side’s setters Mitchell Brown and Andrew Hutchison, using more of their outside hitters Ruari Souter and Jamie Booth, coupled with further unforced errors from the Perth players saw Kinross take the second set 25-8.
Kinross started the third set and were soon 13-5 ahead which progressed to 23-8 but Perth then had a purple patch where their play became more relaxed, scoring seven consecutive points without reply. It didn’t last though and the home side ran out winners 25-15.
