NI lose to Iceland to finish 4th in Euro Champs

Northern Ireland had lost the first match of the European Small Nations’ Championships 3-0 to Luxembourg, even though the team led throughout the first set until 17-17 and showed promise at times, including Tom Barrett hitting well.

NI then lost the second match to an impressive Cypriot team due largely to the fact that, like the first match, NI couldn’t match the runs of points the opposition could produce.  The situation wasn’t helped when Great Britain international David Hamilton was ruled out for the remainder of the tournament with a sprained ankle.  David was quite philosophical, saying, “it was disappointing getting this injury when we were starting to gel together in the second match, but these things happen...” Combinations ran effectively by Mark Fulton to set up Alan Workman showed promise for NI’s final game of the tournament.

The winner of the remaining match against Iceland would lift the bronze medal.  NI started slowly but a block and kill by Adam Bell closed the gap to 5-7.  Further kills by Wilson Greenlee, Alan Workman and Tom Barrett narrowed the gap to one before Iceland went on a tear to go up 15-11.  Alan McKnight’s dynamic diving defence stemmed the flow for a while but Iceland took the first set 25-21.
Iceland started impressively in set 2, jumping out to lead 10-3.  Tom Napier won points from backcourt Mark Fulton added more with sneaky dumps.  Jeff Scott also helped the cause with a kill but Iceland ran out comfortable winners 25-15.

Iceland took an early in set 3 but NI began to claw their way back with Peter Lundy serving an ace and Mark Hazley once again taking charge of the serve receive.  Nick Wright sparked a 4 point drive with a block and a kill, forcing the Iceland coach to take a timeout while leading 11-10.  NI dug in deep to take the lead at 16-15 thanks to strong serving from Wilson Greenlee, forcing the opposing receivers to shank a few balls.  The set continued to and fro but Iceland ran out winners taking the set narrowly by 25-23, sealing the win 3-0.

Alan Dowey the team manager commented "The team did well to qualify for the European Small Nations’ Finals for the first time, with the hard work during the past 2 years paying dividends".