Kilmarnock faced a very young squad in their second round of the Scottish Cup, as Troon, Kyle and Carrick fielded a young squad with some older players to keep their team together. A first start for Gordon Black in the libero slot strengthed the team today, and hopefully for the rest of the season.

Kilmarnock set the tone for the game going 8-0 up after a solid service reception and 7 serves from Gordon Traynor right off the bat. This intensity carried on through-out the first set, as Kilmarnock were able to gather up everything that was coming over the net from Troon or putting it back from strong blocking from middle Calum Bryson.

In the second set, Angus Mitchell was moved into middle slot, along with Steven Jackson causing havoc for the less experienced opposing middles. The flow of the game was broken up slightly so Kilmarnock’s setter Allan Thomas’s exploited the weakness in the Troon blocking unit, allowing Garry McGuire to hit over a smaller blocker. This took the second set out of reach for the Troon team.

The 3rd and final set was very similar to the previous two, as Kilmarnock showed a quality and respect to compete until the very end of the game.

Calum Bryson

Kilmarnock Press Officer