NVL Review (26th and 27th October)

After last season's heartbreaking defeat to Lionhearts in the playoffs for a place in the Super League, Stockport got their Division 1 campaign underway for the 2024-25 season with a 3-1 victory over Leicester Athena Pheonix. 

After dropping the first set 25-21, the Greater Manchester side battled back taking the next three sets 25-18, 25-14, 25-22. 

After a 3-1 victory over Richmond last weekend, Coventry and Warwick Riga couldn’t replicate the same result against another London opponent in London Inter Crocs who took a 3-0 victory away from home. 

Loughborough Students had a busy weekend in Division 2 North hosting Everton Narwhals on Saturday and then travelling to Manchester Marvels Mayhem on Sunday. 

The Students took their opening match of the weekend 3-2 fending off a resurgent Everton who took the fourth set 25-18. But the student side dug in and took the final set 15-12. 

Looking to take this momentum to Manchester they started strongly with an opening set finishing 25-23 to the students however Manchester then hit back in the second and third set with a dominant display taking it 25-15, 25-13. 

Loughborough didn’t go down without a fight with the fourth set going their way 25-23 again but the final set went the way of Mayhem after a chaotic battle on the court lasting almost two hours. 

Newcastle Staffs suffered a 3-0 defeat to Tamworth Spartans who were able to bounce back from a tricky loss last week to Narwhals. 

Staffs are yet to get off the mark but will look to do so in a few weeks when they travel to Everton to take on the 1-1 Narwhals. 

Division 2 East only saw one match take place with Cambridge finding success over Dartford Chargers in three sets (25-13, 25-23, 25-17). 

In Division 3 Central, Nottingham Rockets claimed two victories against Coventry and Warwick Riga 2 and Leicester Athena Nova. Nova were able to claim a 3-0 victory over Riga as well.

Darkstar Derbyshire 2 finished the weekend with a win and a loss in their triangular against Ashfield Vipers and Womboune with Vipers not able to claim a victory this weekend and Wombourne claiming all six points. 

Division 3 South East saw Tendring, Sussex Dolphins and Invicta compete on Sunday with Dolphins and Tendring sharing the points with a 3-2 scoreline going the way of the Doplins. 

Invicta couldn’t make it past Invicta (3-0) and fell to the same result against the Sussex side (3-0).

Ashcombe Dorking battled hard in a five-set thriller against Spelthorne Sharks coming out on top 25-8, 26-28, 25-23, 25-3, 15-6. 

Dorking were also able to overcome Richmond 3 with a slightly more comfortable 3-1 victory over the London side. 

Portsmouth, new to the NVL this season started their season with a 3-1 victory over Bedminster kicking their season off on the right foot.

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A busy weekend of five fixtures in Men’s Division 1 this weekend with Newcastle Staffs looking to make their return to the Super League with their opening match of the season against Hull Thunder.  

Even though they were pushed hard in the second set, Staffs were able to get their season off to a winning start with a 25-14, 27-25, 25-20 scoreline.

Leeds Gorse kept their winning streak going with their fourth 3-0 victory, this week against Tamworth Spartans. Gorse controlled the match with set scores of 25-15, 25-15, 25-21 keeping them top of the table. 

London Aces hosted Bristol in the return leg of their match last week which saw the west country side take the match 3-2. However, it was Aces who were able to flip the result this week with a 3-1 victory. 

 After taking the first set Bristol looked on course to win the match like last weekend but Aces took the next three sets with the fourth being the closest ending 25-23. 

Newly promoted Exeter Strom claimed their first win of the season against Lincoln Cannons coming from behind both times to take the match 3-2. 

Another five setter was played between Cambridge ARU and London Baks with Baks able to snatch the match from a rampant Cambridge who had battled back from 2-0 down to force a deciding fifth set. 

But, Baks were able to claim it 15-11 giving them their second win of the season. 

In the only match in Division 2 North Kings of Court were pushed in three sets by Newcastle Staffs 2 with the Kings able to snatch all three sets by just a few points (26-24, 25-23, 25-21).  

Division 2 Central saw two matches taking place with Rhinos Cambridge taking a 3-1 victory over Norwich Spikers and Coventry and Warrwick Riga claiming a 3-0 victory over Northampton. 

A quiet week for Divison 2 South saw Wessex victorious over Wiltshire Mavericks in a 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-14) victory seeing the Wessex team stretch their legs into the later parts of the match. 

Two triangulars in Division 3 North saw all but two matches have at least four sets. 

Rockets and Wombourne won matches 3-0 against GNG Bedford and Wombourne 2 respectively. 

Rockets then played four sets coming out on top over Darkstar 2 with Womboiurne also needing four sets to see off Tamworth Spartans 2. 

GNG Bedford pushed hard but were revere swept by Darkstar 2 in a five-set marathon with Darkstar claiming the tie-breaking set 15-12. 

Womborune 2 couldn’t replicate their team mates success over Tamworth 2 with a 3-1 defeat to the West Midlands side. 

Division 3 North West saw Urmston Grammar play a staggering ten sets sadly with both matches not going their way with 3-2 defeats to Liverpool and Intervolley Manchester.

Liverpool were able to claim a full three points when playing Intervolley with a 3-1 scoreline going in their favour.  

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A weekend of Cup, Shield and NVL matches take place this weekend so keep up to date with all the events via our social media channels Facecebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. 

 

Cover image by Aimee Hollingsworth