Derek Adams’ Pilgrims may have emerged as victors of the 2015 Argyle vs Albion pre-season showdown – but Plymouth Mayflower Volleyball Club were the real winners as members of the city’s football and rugby teams descended on the Life Centre to take part in the new and upcoming sport.

It has become something of tradition in the city of Plymouth to stage an annual pre-season friendly (of sorts!) between Argyle and Albion with the two sides facing off at bowls the last two years.

But Louise Chaves, activities manager at the Life Centre, and Andrew Potter of Plymouth Mayflower Volleyball Club, thought they would shake it up this year and introduce the two sides to sitting volleyball.

“We’re trying to grow the brand – not just what we’re doing with Plymouth Mayflower Volleyball Club – with volleyball in general in the city,” Potter explained.

“And we want to raise awareness of all its forms. Whether that’s on the beach on the grass indoors or sitting down.

“It’s all about it getting it out there. It’s a great team sport and teaches a lot of great key life skills which I think is really important these days.”

And who better to help promote the sport in the city than its two biggest sports teams?

Argyle’s players did look a little sheepish when they arrived in the sports hall and were told that “the rugby boys were taking their time and waiting in the lobby.”

Of course, sitting volleyball involves a little more physical contact with the opponent than bowls so you can perhaps understand those looks on their faces – but Argyle took to the sport with aplomb and pulled off an impressive 2-1 sets victory over Albion.

After roughly an hour of training exercises led by Potter, Argyle and Albion played a best-of-three-sets match.

A tight first set saw both sides stay neck and neck for long periods with Tyler Harvey and Aaron Bentley, in particular, playing some cheeky shots with their heads to grab key points for Argyle.

Gary Sawyer played his part in some exciting net play against new Albion signing Nile Dacres – who had very much assumed the dominant role for the rugby side and was clearly enjoying himself a great deal.

After a helping Albion win a thrilling point at the net, which saw them go 4-3 up, the former Moseley player referenced popular movie Dodgeball by announcing to the court: “Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!”

Argyle soon built a strong lead when Luke McCormick was substituted on halfway through the set to play at the back of the court and they finished 25-19 winners to take a 1-0 lead on sets.

Albion ran things close again in the second set narrowly losing it 22-25 to Argyle sealing the victory for the Green Army.

But Graham Dawe’s men were able to grab consolation victory in the final set with a 25-17 score line.

Speaking after the event, Andrew Potter revealed how much he enjoyed the day and undertook some professional analysis of Argyle’s victory using his experience as a volleyball coach with Plymouth Mayflower.

“It was brilliant,” he said. “It was exciting for me as Plymouth boy born and bred to coach the top two sports teams in the city.

“But also I was really pleased with how they handled the event; both sets of players were really professional and took to it so well.

“Argyle did it in their stride, they were very relaxed about it.

“Albion looked very composed and they were talking tactics and all that sort of stuff.

“I think what Argyle did was that they were very good at covering the ball and they had all bases covered so they were very good with their court awareness.

“Of course having a goalkeeper of the quality of Luke McCormick in their team really helped them!

“But the ball handling skills of the Albion boys were very good too as you would expect.

“Argyle won the first two sets well and Albion won the final one – which was a bit of a dead rubber by that point and Argyle had just taken their foot of the gas for that one.

“I was really impressed with the standard they showed during the game and I think that just goes to show that being a good sportsman is all about having a good frame of mind.”

 

Many Thanks to David Munday from The Evening Herald for his article.

Read more: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/VIDEO-Argyle-beat-Albion-pre-season-Plymouth/story-26864152-detail/story.html#ixzz3jq4dJREY
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