Martinez, Heptinstall Forge Win for Steel Men Against Phoenix
A towering twin performance by Perth Steel stars Jose Martinez and Tom Heptinstall have driven Perth Steel to a commanding 4-1 win at home against the NSW Phoenix in their opening fixture of the new Scape Australian Volleyball Super League.
With the Steel holding a slender one-point lead 8-7 after the opening rallies in the first set, Martinez stepped up to serve for the first time in the match and won the next 8 points straight to blow the set wide open for the Steel. Perth eventually took the set 18-9 to lay down the gauntlet, and then continued early in the second set with Tom Heptinstall stepping up from his serve to get them to an 8-4 lead.
Some stirring defence by the Phoenix, including a great block by Jarvis Page, levelled the set at 13-13. But an incredible double-play by Martinez – first to block, then recover, and spike the third pass for the point broke the Phoenix, with a massive hit from Ky Landers on set point giving the Steel the second set 18-15.
That opened the door for NSW’s Sean Bosschieter to step in and inspire his side in the third set, scoring early points to help the Phoenix to a 10-14 lead. Heptinstall nearly turned the set around, though, with a huge set-point save at 13-17 which gave his side a mini-momentum boost to drag it back to 16-17, before Bosschieter completed what he started by scoring the winning point to hand the set to the Phoenix and keep the game alive.
It would only be a short reprieve, as in the fourth set Perth activated their Powerplay at 10-8 and won two of their three powerplay rallies to take all the momentum and jump away to 14-9, allowing them to comfortably take the set 18-10 and confirm the overall win.
The fifth compulsory set was point-for-point again all the way to 9-9, but the Steel, with home court advantage, pulled away to win it 18-14, collecting 9 competition points (2 for each set win and a bonus point for winning by more than 20 total points) and going to the top of the Men’s ladder at the end of the opening round.