WYVERN pulled off a fine three-set victory over University College Worcester in a Hereford and Worcester League clash.

In the early exchanges there was not much to choose between the two sides and for a rotation and a half the sides were level at 10-10.

Then Wyvern, with Jon Handford serving, found another gear and pressurised UCW with some hard-hitting from Ralph Konen and Paul Ward. Seven consecutive points on one service saw Wyvern take the set 25-15.

The second set was much harder for Wyvern who tried to dominate the front court, spiking at each opportunity. The setting of Julien Gautier and John Phillips made the hitting a lot easier.

UCW refused to bow down and held their own through the hitting of Anthony Giampalma and Sinclair. It was nip and tuck before Konen put together a great string of serves, and Jon Shorrocks brought the set to a conclusion at 25-16.

In the third set the College team threw everything they had into it and went 20-15 up, but Shorrocks rallied the team for a final time and Wyvern clawed back to match point at 24-23.

Then an attack of nerves hit both sides as set point to UCW was counteracted by match point to Wyvern. It was left to captain Shorrocks to save the set with an ace and then serve twice, aided with some excellent blocking from Jon Handford and hitting from Paul Ward, to win the game for Wyvern 30-28.

Next up for Wyvern is a home game against Telford at RGS Worcester on November 5 (8pm).

n The club's junior side, the Royals, went down 3-0 to reigning champions Dudley but with a distinct disadvantage of height and experience, they had nothing to lose.

The setting of Matt Rankin and hitting of Matt Steele in the first set for the Royals was outstanding. Ben Martin dug with accuracy and Sam Knight blocked with maturity, but despite going down 25-18 in the first set, it was a superb performance.

In the second set, the Royals couldn't raise their game to the same high levels and coach Shorrocks had to call two timeouts to incite a bit of action. It worked to a degree with Andrew Worsley responding the most with some hard hitting and Rob Howe with some well-timed blocks.

Despite rallying hard, Dudley were in cruise control for most of the set, running out victors 25-14.

In the third set, fresh talent was brought on in the form of Greg Holloway and Owen Holland but neither could avert the inevitable. Dudley won but the Royals showed that the future looks bright.