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New Season, New Division...
Guildford Mens NVL team finished a disappointing season at the bottom of NVL Division 2. The two wins they achieved were not enough to avoid relegation and so next season they will be competing in NVL Division 3.
Coach Mike Richardson will be continuing in his role and hopes to use this as an opportunity to rebuild the teams confidence and also integrate new players into the team. This should put the team in a better position should they achieve their aim of an immediate return to Division 2.
Any players who would like to help Guildford in their quest for a Division 3 title this season should get in touch. Pre Season training will be starting in July and the first match of the season is in September.
posted by GIVC on 18.5.09
Video Comes To GIVC .
As a trial enjoy some moments of Guildford warming up against Newcastle Staffs in the NVL Division 1 match that was played at the ACS in Cobham last season.
posted by GIVC on 14.11.08
Guildford's Woes Continue .
Guildford made the long trek down to the west country today to take on Plymouth. The long journey seemed not to have bothered them as they cruised to a 21-25 1st set win. They then raced ahead to force 3 set points in the 2nd set but managed to let Plymouth back into the game by eventually losing 27-25. However, great character was shown when the side immediately bounced back by taking the 4th set 25-20 but they could not secure a much needed win when they let Plymouth steal the set 25-19. The 5th set was a tense affair and true to form Guildford took a great lead but failed to secure the set and Plymouth ran out winners 15-12. Mike Richardson picked up the man of the match award.
posted by GIVC on 2.11.08
Guildford Lose Again .
Guildford lost again today at the ACS in Cobham. This time their opponents were Brentwood and although the home side managed take the first set and force their way ahead with a sizeable lead in the 2nd set they still entered the 3rd set 1-1. The visitors took the 3rd set easily and although Guildford again forged themselves a great lead in the 4th they still ran out 23-25 losers and lost the match 1-3 Simon Williams was awarded Man of the match.
posted by GIVC on 26.10.08
Guildford Mauled By Middlesborough
After a tough five set victory over Leeds yesterday Guildford did not have the heart to trade with high flying Middlesborough today. The Surrey side were on the wrong side of a 3-0 score line. Kent Shurville picked up the Man of the Match award.
posted by GIVC on 12.10.08
Guildford Victorious Over Leeds.
Guildford registered their first win of the season today over a strong Leeds side. Leeds expectations were high when they saw that Guildford had only managed to bring a minimum 6 players for the fixture. Their analysis of the squads potential lead them to believe that a victory should be an easy exercise. However it was Guildford who came out of the blocks well and they raced to take the 1st set 13-25. This seemed to shock Leeds into action and they managed to curb Guildford in the 2nd set and run out 25-20. However, this just seemed to spur the Surrey side to even greater heights and they stormed the 3rd set 10-25 but managed to let Leeds back into the game by letting them take the 4th set 25-20. Guildford managed to survive some pretty poor gamesmanship from the Leeds side and some weak referring to take the 5th set and the match 10-15. Tom Booth was picked up the Man of the Match award.
posted by GIVC on 11.10.08
Guildford Lose Out To Wessex .
Guildford International kicked off their 2008/2009 season with a home match against Wessex at the American Community School in Cobham today. Despite managing to take the 1st set the Surrey side were not able to maintain any momentum and eventually went down 1-3 to the visitors. Tom Booth and Kent Shurville made their debuts and the side was bolstered by the inclusion of Lukas Rajski and Colin Elwood. The Surrey sides next match is on the road to Leeds followed by a quick trip to Middlesborough.
posted by GIVC on 21.9.08
New Season / New Players .
Guildford International boosted their Squad this season with the arrival of Kent Shurville, Tom Booth, Simon Williams and Luca Passone. All four players were playing Volleyball with Tonbridge in the NVL last season but with the demise of Tonbridge the players have looked to Guildf ord. The Surrey side have lost a number of players from the team that represented Guildford in the National League Division 1. Borek Cernich and Jayson McAlpine have both left the area and Ondrej Vcelk, Ralf Kernchen and Lukas Rajski have all decided to call time on their NVL careers with Guildford. Marc Booth, Gus Todd and Mike Richardson all remain from last seasons squad which is bolstered by the inclusion of Colin Elwood from Guildford's now defunct NVL Division 3 team.
posted by GIVC on 12.9.08
Guildford Prepare for start of season
Mens NVL training has returned to it's regular Thursday evening slot and the team are preparing for their first match of the season against Wessex. This will be played at the American community school in Cobham. Match starts at 11.00 and supporters are welcome.
posted by GIVC on 12.9.08
NVL Training Returns to Spectrum
The new floor will be completed soon and the mens NVL training will return to the Guildford Spectrum. Training sessions at the Spectrum will resume on Thursday 4 September. Training session runs from 9-11pm with a pre training meeting at 8.45.
posted by GIVC on 22.8.08
NVL Training Changes in August
Due to the floor being replaced at the Spectrum Leisure center the Mens and Womens training sessions will be taking place at the University of Surrey Sports Center in August.
Mens training is on Mondays 8-10
Womens training is on Wednesdays 8.30-10.30
Click here for a map
Training will return to usual times in September.
posted by GIVC on 11.8.08
NVL Fixture List Published
The fixtures for the coming NVL season have been published and the fixtures can be seen at the side of this page.
Starting the season off is a home fixture on 21st September against Wessex. As with all home fixtures this season it will be played at the American Community School in Cobham.
Pre Season training for the team will be starting in August. The exact times and location are still to be confirmed due to the usual training venue of the Spectrum being closed for repairs during August.
posted by GIVC on 11.7.08
End of another season
Guildford Men 1 will be returning to Division 2 next season. The final match of the season away to Bristol 1 resulted in another 3-0 loss.
It has been a tough season for the team, playing against some very skilled and experienced opponents has meant some very demoralising losses. The team still fought on throughout the season and will be returning to Division 2 with renewed enthusiam and a great deal more exprience.
Final stats for the season, played 18, won 1, lost 17.
posted by GIVC on 14.4.08
Guildford Fall To Warwick ...
Guildford notched up another straight sets defeat today as they fell 3-0 to Warwick. Guildford were without Ian Towers, Ralf Kernchen, Ondrej Vcelk, Lukas Rajski and Markus Meyer and had to call on the services of the Guildford II's Christophe Juvanon in order to field a team.
posted by GIVC on 27.10.07
Preview : Warwick Riga v Guildford
Guildford travel to the midlands on Saturday to see if they can register their 2nd win of the season.
Warwick will be wary after losing to Aquila Lynx the only team Guildford have managed to beat this season.
posted by GIVC on 25.10.07
Guildford Lose To Sheffield ...
Guildford lost to Sheffield at the ACS in Cobham today. (3-0).
More details to follow ...
posted by GIVC on 25.10.07
Guildford Collapse To Malory ...
Guildford lost in straight sets to Malory today (3-0).
More details to follow ...
posted by GIVC on 13.10.07
Guildford Beat Aquila Lynx ...
Guildford managed to beat Aquila Lynx today so secure the Club's first ever Division 1 win. A great team performance saw the side come back from being a set down to take the match 3-1.
More details to follow ...
posted by GIVC on 7.10.07
Preview : London Lynx v Guildford ...
Guidlford travel to East London this Sunday (30th) to take on the other Division 1 new boys at the Bethnel Green Sports Centre.
Warm up is from 1600.
Both sides will be looking to gain their first win of the season. Guildford look set to welcome Gus Todd back from injury.
posted by GIVC on 24.9.07
Guildford Narrowly Lose To Docklands ...
Guildford International turned in a fine performance against last seasons NVL League and Cup Double winning London Docklands at the ACS in Cobham today.
Judging by the ease in which the newly promoted side managed to contain and even prevent the League Champions from playing and that coupled with the fact they also struggled to contain the other Division 1 new-boys, London Lynx, last week must surely mean that the chances winning either competition this season look pretty remote.
In fact, time and time again Docklands were forced to use Francesco Riginelli to make any sort of headway against the Guildford block and defence. The rest of the Docklands attack was rendered in effective and for a vast majority of the game the home side were able to side out at their leisure.
Interestingly if the Italian had been 50% less effective then the home side would have won out winners with scores of approx 25-20, 25-20, 25-20.
The effectiveness of the Guildford serving and passing was highlighted by the fact that Docklands only managed to kill 8 balls from attacks through the middle where as the home side harvested more than twice that amount from it's middle players as the Guildford passing unit dealt effectively with the Docklands serving. This fact was not wasted on Dockland's Coach Ian Legrand who attempted to nullify the Guildford middle attack by switching his sides serving strategy.
All in all it was promising performance by the Surrey side who will take many positives from the match on to their next game. Coach Legrand must however be looking at his sides next match against Sheffield, who are an established Division 1 side, with a certain amount of trepidation considering newly promoted Guildford prevented his side from playing and made life difficult for the League Champions.
Guildford 0 Docklands 3 (20-25, 20-25, 22-25)
posted by GIVC on 22.9.07
Preview : Guildford v London Docklands ...
Guildford take on last years NVL Champions and Cup Double winning London Docklands at the ACS in Cobham on Saturday.
Warmup is from 1330.
posted by GIVC on 19.9.07
Guildford Pipped by Cambridge ...
It was a nervous Guildford side that took to the court today for their first competitive match in the National Volleyball League Division 1 today at the American Community School in Cobham.
The Surrey side were without Czech player Borek Cernich and the Scot Gus Todd but Ian Towers and Mark Booth made debuts for the home side. The match also saw Pole Lukas Rajski make his club debut.
Only two players from each side were playing in the squads when Cambridge and Guildford last met in the NVL. That was back in 2003/2004 season when the two teams met twice but shared the honours as Cambridge ran out eventual Divisional winners with Guildford following up in the runners-up position.
Guildford were unable to secure promotion that season but Cambridge have gone on to establish themselves as a strong Division 1 outfit.
Although the Surrey side more than matched the visitors in every aspect of the game once play had developed out of the 1st phase the superior serving and passing of the Cambridge side was the main cause for concern for Guildford.
This coupled with the home sides inability to exert any pressure on their serve meant that the visitors were always one step ahead and even though Guildford proved to be the most powerful attacking side they were unfortunately always playing catch up.
Guildford 0 Cambridge 3 (18-25,22-25,20-25)
posted by GIVC on 15.9.07
Preview : Guildford v Cambridge ...
Guildford get the club's 1st Division one campaign off to a start when they play hosts to Cambridge at the ACS in Cobham this Saturday at 1330.
The home side will be boosted by the arrival of Marc Booth, Ian Towers and Lukas Rajski.
posted by GIVC on 14.9.07
Guildford Searching For New Coach ...
Guildford International are on the look out for a Coach to take over the helm as they prepare for thier first season in the NVL Division 1.
Last season the newly promoted side had to make do with a player/coach setup which would be difficult to continue with when faced with the pressures of playing in the top flight.
If anyone is interested in Coaching the side then they should email mike.richardson@guildfordvolleyball.org.uk
posted by GIVC on 30.4.07
Guildford Looking To Strengthen Squad ...
Guildford International are looking for players to strengthen thier NVL Division 1 side for the 2007/2008 season.
The Surrey side are looking to bring in a couple of players to add more options to the side that beat Sheffield Hallam in the Division 1 play-off earlier this month.
If any player is interested in playing for Guildford in the 1st Division next season then they should email mike.richardson@guildfordvolleyball.org.uk
posted by GIVC on 30.4.07
Review : A Fantastic Season ...
In what was the Club's 20th Anniversary Season Guildford International finally achieved this season what they had been threatening to do for a number of years by winning promotion to the NVL Division 1.
4 years ago in what was their 1st season in Division 2 the Surrey side lost out narrowly in the same play-off to RAF Harriers after coming 2nd in the division . The following year saw Guildford again come 2nd in the division but this time lose to Loughborough. The 2005/2006 season was a quiet one by their own standards as the side managed to finish the League in a lowly 7th place.
(Mike Richardson, Ondrek Vlcek, Jayson McApline, Borek Cernich, Darren Heath
Ralf Kerchen, Gus Todd, Markus Meyer)
However with a host of new faces coming into the side for the new season the Club managed to blend the enthusiasm of new players like Ondrej Vlcek, Gus Todd and Jayson McApine with the experience that Markus Meyer, Mike Richardson, Ralf Kernchen, Darren Heath and Borek Cernich had gained from the earlier campaigns in Division 2. Guildford also managed to pick up Peter Casson from Division 1 Sheffield on a seasons 'loan' whilst he spent his sandwich year from University working in Woking.
The teams preparation was also hampered by the fact that the club was unable to attract a Coach for the new season so Mike Richardson was called upon to act as player/coach.
During the season there were major setbacks that looked set to scupper the sides aim for promotion. A sloppy 2-3 defeat to Leeds was the teams first defeat of the year and this was soon followed by an even sloppier 3-2 defeat at the hands of Oxford in the next match. Things went from bad to worse when in the following match Guildford inexplicably lost to Brentwood Estonians, again in 5 sets, 3-2.
The wheels looked like they had fallen on the Guildford wagon but the rot was stopped in the next match when the Surrey side completely destroyed Oxford at RAF Brize Norton. However, things turned bad again when in the next match they went down in another 5 set defeat to Sheffield Hallam who would eventually turn out to be their play-off opponents.
Aquila Lynx were the team's last opponents of the regular NVL season and both teams entered the match knowing that the winner would be crowned Divisional Champions and the losers would have to face the promotion play-off.
Lynx proved worthy Champions as they overpowered Guildford. So after losing 5 out of their last 8 NVL matches Guildford found themselves in the promotion play-off against Sheffield Hallam. The rest is history.
Throughout the season the side turned in some fantastic performances. None more so than the away trip to Wessex where they found themselves completely outplayed at 2-0 down which they managed to come back from to win 2-3. The performance of the season must have been the complete and utter demolition of Oxford in which the side could only field 6 players. The side also managed to make short work of Wessex when they visited the Ashcombe Volleyball Centre.
The team also managed to put together a credible 'shield run' by beating first SGTV Solent and then Cambridge 2 before progressing to the semi-final of a National Knockout competition for the first time in the club's history.
However, they were stopped short of the final by 1st Division Newcastle Staffs who managed to dispatch the Surrey side with ease.
All in all a great season for the side.
Guildford International : NVL Division 2 Runners-Up, Volleyball England Shield Semi-Finalists, NVL Promotional Play-Off Winners.
posted by GIVC on 18.4.07
Guildford Enjoy Play-Off Success ...
Guildford International managed to taste the sweet taste of play-off success today when they beat Sheffield Hallam in the NVL Divisional Play-Off today at the ACS in Cobham.
For Markus Meyer and Mike Richardson is was 3rd time lucky as they had both featured in the sides two previous unsuccessful Play-Off attempts. Darren Heath had also tasted the bitter taste of defeat in the teams 1st attempt to gain promotion to Division 1 4 years ago.
The day started badly for the home side. With the side depleted to just 8 players they suffered a set back when Jayson McAlpine and Gus Todd were delayed and could only make it to the hall just as the sides were going over the net.
Both sides started the 1st strongly but the balance of play was with the younger visitors who were clearly well motivated. In fact it was Sheffield who raced to a 22-18 lead in the latter part of the set. The set looked beyond Guildford but up stepped Ondrek Vlcek and his jump serve tore apart the young Sheffield side and it was actually Guildford who took the set 25-23.
The 2nd set followed much the same pattern as the 1st. However, midway through the set a collision between Jayson McAlpine and Mike Richardson saw the Guildford Setter knocked unconscious. Play resumed shortly afterwards and again Sheffield race to a late set stage win. However, again Ondrej Vlcek stepped up and his jump serve again riled the Sheffield passers and the balance of the set flowed to Guildford and they ran out set winners 27-25.
Guildford now were in the ascendancy. The momentum was clearly with the home side as they came out for the 3rd set but they were unwilling to press the advantage and it was Sheffield who took the set rather convincingly 17-25.
During the interval the home side took stock of the situation and came out for the 4th set determined to see off any Sheffield comeback but again the set followed the same pattern right the way up until Markus Meyer managed to move his side to within sniffing distance of the finish line with some exquisite attacks at the net. It was left to South African Jayson McAlpine to win the last point with a clever wipe off the Sheffield block to the send the Guildford players into the 1st Division and spark some noisy celebrations.
posted by GIVC on 18.4.07
It's a play-off again ...
Guildford completed a bad week as they missed the chance to clinch the Division 2 title in a winner takes all match against London Aquila Lynx.
Trading points all the way through the match Guildford just couldn't sustain that extra bit of pressure needed at the business end of each set losing the match 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-20). Aquila bounce straight back to Division 1 following their relegation in controversial circumstances last season.
The prospect of the 3rd play-off match in as many seasons now awaits for the final place in Division 1. The match will be at home against Sheffield Hallam who narrowly beat Guildford earlier in the season.
Venue & start time are being finalised & details will be posted here in due course.
posted by GIVC on 27.3.07
Guildford fall at the last hurdle ...
Guildford missed out on their first ever appearance in the finals of the Volleyball England Shield competition when they crashed 0-3 to Newcastle Staffs in an exciting Semi final at Keele University.
Having lost middle hitter Peter Cassons to an ankle ligament injury at the previous weekends BUSA championships & also without the jump serving of Ondrej Vcelk Guildford knew they were in for a tough time.
Struggling to control to young(ish) tough serving team it was only in the 3rd set that Guildford came close to competing but couldn't do enough to extend the match beyond a 0-3 defeat.
posted by GIVC on 27.3.07
Guildford Awarded Aquila Match ...
Guildford have been awarded the disputed match they had with Aquila last month at the ACS in Cobham.
The Aquila Coach had signed the Score sheet to confirm that the recorded players were correct an the match proceeded.
Midway through the first set the officials realised that there was a player on court who was not on the score sheet.
The Divisional commissioner has awarded the match to Guildford (25-0, 25-0, 25-0) and Aquila will not receive the usual point they would have gained for partaking in the match.
This means that Guildford are now top of the Division and currently unbeaten. The 2nd and 3rd place teams have both lost two matches.
posted by GIVC on 7.12.06
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