It was the John Syer Trophy this week for Kilmarnock Blaze, as they welcomed Edinburgh Jets to St Joseph's.  After a win in their last match against Dundee, Killie wanted to keep building momentum ahead of a tough match against City Of Glasgow Ragazzi next week.

Kilmarnock started the stronger, building an early lead in the first set, with Stewart Caldwell and John Hollis getting off the mark early with some impressive hitting from the start.  Kilmarnock went into the second technical timeout 16-12 ahead, after which Colin Giles put in a run of jump serves to put his team in a winning position.  Despite a mini come back from Jets, Killie were too strong and won the set 25-19.

The second set started in the same way, with the Blaze again taking the early lead, Mark Lawson getting in on the action with some good blocking.  Gordon Welsh put in a good run of serves to extend the lead, and Killie were 16-8 up at the second technical timeout.  The two teams traded points for the rest of the set, Kilmarnock winning it 25-16.

In the third set, player/coach Stuart Edgar made the decision to bring club captain, Welsh, off for Euan Duncan.  Although Duncan made a positive impact in hitting, the passing unit without Welsh was nowhere near as steady.  After going down at the technical timeout 16-10, Welsh was brought back on, and his passing made an immediate impact, as Kilmarnock slowly clawed back at Jets lead.  At 20-22 in favour of Jets, Caldwell went up to the service line and put in a run of 5 serves to win the set 25-22, giving The Blaze a 3-0 win.

Kilmarnock II were also in action, in the Scottish Cup, and they beat Troon, Kyle and Carrick 3-0 to proceed to the next round.

Kilmarnock Blaze would like to welcome anyone interested to their recreational volleyball sessions, Thursday evenings from 7-8 at St Josephs Academy, £2 per person, no previous experience needed.

Stewart Caldwell

KVC Press Officer