A cold morning saw Kilmarnock start their league season off of 2011 in Edinburgh, against the side who previously beat them on Day 1 of the season.

The game started better than ever with Killie taking a demanding league with all areas of the game being used, with the serving and passing causing trouble for Edinburgh. With Brain Green at the helm, he helped organise our team with wise words.

After a good all round performance from the team in the first set, Kilmarnock lost focus in both the second and third sets. The passing unit seemed to crumble under a tough offensive barriage from Edinburgh. The third set was came down to a matter of points of as McGuire linked up with Young to put in a quality hitting performance as per usual.

After dropping the third set to go 2-1 down, Killie got a good kick in the right direction. A tactical change brought Mitchell into the off setter slot to increase the power from the outside and introduced Gaw as the other middle blocker. The passing unit put in some 3 point passes and this stabilized the unit as Black and McCallum hustled to keep the ball off the floor.

With both teams pushing for the win, the 5th set was bound to be an interesting one. With the score being almost even up until the change over, this saw Killie dig deep when Edinburgh took a lead to 13-11. Down, but not out Bryson stepped up to the service line. With a strong block defence unit, the game saw 4 serves putting Edinburgh under pressure and to cap it off, Mitchell kill blocked the power hitter to out the bed the nerves.
This win puts Kilmarnock in a strong position for the league. Next week, Jets at home.

Calum Bryson

Kilmarnock Press Officer