Blaze Firstsdefeat Queen’s

Queens got off to the perfect start but Blaze quickly found their feet and upped their passing game to allow Ciaran White to connect well with his hitters. Gavin McCaughern and Matt Scott were continually finding court through the middle and combined with Jeff Scott keeping the ball alive in the back court frustrated the Queens attack and enabled Blaze to hold a lead throughout the set eventually winning it 25-22

Ballymoney knew they had more to give and came out in the second set determined to show this on the court. Strong serving from Matt and Adam Hunter gave Blaze the early initiative and they kept up the early pressure with accurate passing from Jonny Workman to extend this lead as the set progressed finishing 25-14.

The third set got off to a close start and Queens came out knowing they had to win this set to stay in the match. Blaze built a 2-3 point lead helped with some strong blocking from David Park. Queens fought hard to keep the ball off the floor and capitalised on some errors towards the end of the set from Blaze.

Queens levelled the set 24-24 and then won the crucial next 2 points to take the set and force at least another set in this best of 5 game.

Blaze came out in the fourth set and built up a small lead that they maintained throughout the set and this time they were able to see it out thanks to some pivotal stuff blocks from Jeff Scott and Gavin McCaughern.

The set finished 25-20 with Ballymoney Blaze winning 3-1 and puts them in second place in the National League table with four more league matches, League Cup and NIVA Cup to look forward to after Christmas.

The club would like to thank Sponsor Max Snax for their continued support throughout the season.