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London Malory beat City of Wolverhampton 25:18, 22:25, 25:22, 25:22
London Malory have taken the National League Division One Title and City Of Wolverhampton the Division Two in a fairy story season in which the strengthened squad under new coach Clayton Lucas has also reached the Cup Final by beating the teams that finished second and third in the First Division. Oh, how close they came this afternoon to making it 3 top scalps.
Mo Glover hitting off the block and Lucy Boulton smashing through the middle set the audience in the mood for an exciting match during which they would be much tenser than the players in the middle although both sides were to show a lot of respect for the qualities of their opposition. There was nothing between the sides to six all when a rotational fault resulted in the wrong player serving for Wolverhampton, Malory moved a point ahead and Wolves were slightly unsettled. Malory pulled away to 17:12 through attacks by Natasha Maddox and Pat Gradwell-Doyle and solid blocking involving both these players and Lisa Mullarkey and Lucy Boulton. Then, just when it seemed Wolverhampton were regaining their self-possession as Jenna Taylor hit off the block, another rotational fault rattled them briefly. However they showed their mettle as captain Jo Bonner's accurate serving and good attacks by Vanessa Malone closed the gap to 18:21. It was as though Jefferson Williams had said "That's enough", the Malory blocks jumped even higher and at set point Audrey Cooper, whose setting had been excellent produced the perfect pass and Lucy Boulton's diagonal smash secured the first set.
The second set was simply marvellous. Donna Sedgewick and Audrey Cooper were setting beautifully and all the attackers used the opportunities given them while the opposition blocking grew stronger too. Nevertheless, a small majority of points were scored attacking off the blocks while the score mounted: tied at regular intervals through to nine all. Leading just 13:12, Wolverhampton brought on Kerri Olding for her first senior final and she responded wonderfully with a diagonal winner to be followed by several more and the lead stretched to five points.
Like true champions Malory battled back and Lucy Boulton justified her eventual selction as Most Valuable Player by her determined resistance but it was not enough. One set all.
Like the score, sets three and four were remarkably similar. Malory opened up slender leads only for Wolverhampton to come close again or tie the score. Jenna Taylor and Vanessa Malone played wonderfully well for Wolves supported by Kerri Olding and her team mates and lovely setting from Donna Sedgewick. However, it was not quite enough to negate the power of Lisa Mullarkey, the aggression of Maria Bertelli and the variations provided by the Malory substitutions. They finally shaded both sets and the match to the relief of those who wanted reassurance that there was a gap between the top of the first and second divisions. However, the realists will suspect the first division, from top to bottom, will be quaking in their shoes having seen the quality of the side that has been promoted to join them in the first division.
Douglas Barr-Hamilton