Kilmarnock Blaze made the journey to Aberdeen this weekend for their game against Bon Accord.  Kilmarnock were top of the league going into the match, and wanted to keep up their run of good form against a team who are always strong on their home court.

Kilmarnock took the initiative early in the first set, with middle blocker Stewart Caldwell making a big impression in both hitting and blocking, giving his team an early lead.  The teams traded point towards the end of the set but The Blaze held on to their early advantage to take the set 25-16.

Killie again started strong in the second set, with player/coach Stuart Edgar putting in a run of jump serves to give them an early lead.  However after going into to first technical timeout 8-5 ahead, Kilmarnock’s intensity dropped and allowed Bon Accord back into the set.  The score was 16-15 in favour of Killie at the second technical timeout, but Bon Accord put together a run of points to take a lead that would prove to be too much for The Blaze to overcome, and the home side took the set 25-21.

Bon Accord took an early lead in the third set, going into both technical timeouts with a lead.  Kilmarnock managed to build some momentum towards the end of the set thanks to the hitting of Gordon Welsh, however they could not claw back the deficit, and lost the set 25-18.

By the start of the fourth set, Bon Accord were dominating and took a 10-3 lead.  However after harsh works said during a timeout, Kilmarnock managed to bring themselves back into the set thanks to serving runs from Colin Giles, Euan Duncan and Mark Lawson.  Both sides had set points at the end of the set, but it was Killie that came out on top26-14.

The decider was close throughout.  Kilmarnock took an 8-5 lead at the switch of ends, but the home crowd inspired Bon Accord to come back into the set.  Killie were 12-11 up, when a moment of controversy arose as a hit from Blaze captain Gordon Welsh appeared to be clearly in, but was called out by the linesman tying the score at 12-12.  However The Blaze managed to forget the incident and closed out the set 15-13, with Stewart Caldwell scoring the winning point, giving Kilmarnock a 3-2 win.

Stewart Caldwell

KVC Press Officer