VOLLEYBALL: The most important match of the season saw Cleobury lose a hold on their West Midlands Men's Cup title.

Last year's winners lost an evenly-matched and tense cup semi-final 3-2 at rivals Telford.

Cleobury started strongly as confident passing from Simon Fish and the service-line control of Carl Brookes ensured a 25-22 set win.

Nervy mistakes had allowed Telford back into the match though and the villagers were over-relaxed in the next set.

A series of hitting errors handed their Shropshire rivals a 7-0 lead which eventually turned into a 24-21 success.

Adam Bills linked up well with Si Eades to win important points in the third set but Telford's own hitters caused problems as they triumphed 25-23.

But Cleobury evened up the match as Paul Guest produced winners and man-of-the-match Nick Di Marco defended well with great blocks.

It was another close set which Cleobury eventually pushed on to win 25-21 and they looked to be in good stead for the decider.

They turned around ahead at 8-7, thanks to exceptional pick-ups from Eades but Telford showed their experience and played to their strengths to seal victory.

In West Midlands League Division One, Cleobury lost 3-1 at Rugby (23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-16).

Half-the-squad missed the warm-up due to a motorway breakdown but Cleobury settled quickly to take the first set.

However, Rugby began to create all sorts of problems and eventually won comfortably to leave Cleobury wondering what had gone wrong.

A limping Di Marco took man-of-the-match.

Cleobury's ladies defeated Newcastle 3-1 in the West Midlands League (25-17, 16-25, 25-22, 25-21).

Sam Harding, who was solid at the front of the court, and promising junior Jess Hinwood took the joint player-of-the-day award.

Other up-and-coming stars Charlotte Mann and Laura Edwards were also given court time.

Skipper Katherine Skelhorn proved influential, while Lucy Nash displayed exquisite setting.