Aubrey Sparks Heat Men to Nail-biter Over Phoenix

The Canberra Heat Men took out a 4-1 win over the NSW Phoenix, but the set score did not reflect the closeness of the match. Heat started strongly, taking an early 12-5 lead in the first set before claiming a relatively easy set-win 18-10. The next four sets were anything but easy, with three sudden death 17-17 points played out and an 18-15 final set, making the game a nail-biting affair and one that will leave NSW ruing their missed chances.

The second set started well for the Heat, leading 12-9 on the back of some big hitting from Matt Aubrey who topped scored for the night with 19 points. Robert Murdock brought NSW back to 16-all before an ace gave them their first set chance of the game with a 17-16 lead. A Canberra winner followed by a NSW error gave the Heat a 2-0 lead.

NSW made a number of changes in the third set, starting young setter Josh Singh and Oleksandr Pysarenko. The changes weren’t enough, and Canberra kept in control taking the set 18-15.

It was again a close set in the fourth, with Phoenix smartly using their PowerPlays to take a 12-11 lead, while Sean Bosschieter was excellent in attack for NSW taking out the final point after the teams were locked at 17-17.

In a common tale for the night, the fifth set again was extremely close. Trent O’Dea made a number of key spikes to take his tally to 10 points for the night, while some clutch serving from Captain Nic Borgeaud brought the Heat back from 14-16 down to take out the set 18-17, the match 4-1, and 8 competition points to put them comfortably third on the ladder and almost locked-in for the finals series.