Wits Titans suffer a disappointing loss after a close call against Westons
The Wits Titans men’s volleyball team came close to a win against Westons at the Old Mutual Sports Hall on Monday, April 15.
The disappointing defeat came after the Titans two-win streak from their previous games against the Starlings and the Green Mambas.
Titans coach, Que Funyana said, “We played a USSA (University Sports South Africa) tournament with Vaal University of Technology, Tuks and University of Johannesburg last weekend and this match represents the preparation for the upcoming USSA tournament in Bloemfontein in July.”
By the end of the first set, Weston lead 24 to Wits’ 23, and while Wits managed to stay close behind the scoring board by single points, Weston increased the pressure to dominate the next two sets.
After a shaky start in the first set, Wits came back more determined than ever and scored the first point.
An out-ball leveled the playing field but Weston quickly took back the lead with Wits trailing behind the second half of the second set. The score ended 26-28 to Westons with Wits continuing to fall short with only a few points.
After the Titans gained back their momentum in the third set and a slight knee injury from the Weston team, there was focus on the game from the Wits team. This motivated the Titans to a 11-24 victory in the third set, their first win since the start of the match.
In the fourth set, the Titans managed to maintain their fierce edge and dominate the set, this time by a larger 24-14 against the increasingly destabilized Westons.
However, the small lapses in concentration on the Westons side quickly subsided as they bounced back in the last set of the game. They managed to recover and claimed a 7-0 victory, leaving the score 2 to Wits and 3 to Weston.
Commenting on the disappointment of the close loss, coach Funyana said, “We lost because the starting line up panicked, so we subbed and brought in stable people who managed to get two sets.”
“We lost the fifth set because we were setting too tight (players being too close to the net) and dealing with a lot of complacency among the players,” he said.
Key player of the match, Munashe Ncube said he was proud of the team’s performance but there is still room for improvement.
“We played well, we also made errors and we can still improve. We recovered from 2-0 and came back fighting,” said the second-year BA General student.
The winning player from the opposing team, Krunal Patel said they were happy to come back after nearly losing the game.
Patel told Wits Vuvuzela, “after we won the first two sets then lost the next two, we knew we could win the fifth. This is our first season and our first win…our guys played really well”.
FEATURED IMAGE: The Wits Titans defending the net against Westons at the Old Mutual Sports Hall.
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