Kilmarnock made the long drive to Keith this week for their last 16 game in the Scottish Cup against Beacon.  On paper this should have been an easy game for Killie but after a 5 hour journey, nothing was certain.

The match started with some inconsistent play from Kilmarnock, as they would show spells of good play broken up by some messy points.  Beacon managed to keep the score tight until Stewart Caldwell went to serve and managed to get a run of six serves, by which point Killie were well in the ascendency.  The set finished with Angus Mitchell sliding the length of the court to make a fantastic pick-up, allowing Stuart Edgar to pound the ball into the corner, wining the first set 25-14.

The second set was much closer, with Beacon putting up a good fight against the stronger Killie and taking the lead in the early stages.  However the Ayrshire team came from behind, thanks to another run of strong serving, this time from Euan Duncan.  After they took the lead, Kilmarnock managed to pull away and take the set 25-18.

Kilmarnock started strongly in the third set, and pulled out a big lead thanks again to a long run of serving from Stewart Caldwell.  The fight from Beacon was not so strong in this set as they brought some of their bench players on for some experience against a stronger team.  The match climaxed with some stunning hitting from Gordon Welsh, winning the set 25-14, and the match 3-0.

Closer to home, Killie II beat South Ayrshire 3-0 to also advance in the cup.

Stewart Caldwell

KVC Press Officer