Finals Day 2024
Many thanks to all our helpers on Finals Day – in particular:
The volunteers from Maidstone VC who helped get everything ready.
Our referees, scorers and line judges for their contributions.
Thanks, also, to those who helped choose the MVPs from the day’s matches.
Thanks to all participants for giving us 3 good matches, played in a good spirit:
a) Plate Final - a see-saw battle which saw Tonbridge-1 take the first set (25-22), but Spitfire-1 rallied to take the next 2 (25-15 and 25-14). Tonbridge took the 4th set 25-21 to level the match. Spitfire opened up a 2-point gap going into the change of ends and stretched that lead through to the end, winning the set 15-9.
b) Stan Hastie Cup Final - Dartford-1 set off at a run, taking the first 2 sets by 25-17 and 25-18, showing some resolute defence. A change of line-up by Team Medway-1 in set 3 saw them take the set 25-23, but Dartford re-grouped and opened up a 2-point gap in set 4 to lead 11-9. The set ended with 2 strong service runs from Dartford, taking 14 points to Medway's 3 to close out the set and match 25-14.
c) June Morgan Women’s Cup Final - Dartford-W1 made a dream start against Spitfire-women, racing to a 10-0 lead. The teams more or less traded points for the rest of the set, with Dartford taking it 24-14. The next 2 sets were closer, with Spitfire levelling at 1-1 but Dartford responding to go back in front 2-1. Dartford opened up a 7-point lead by the time the scores reached 15-8 and maintained that gap through to the end to win the set 25-17 and the match 3-1.
League programmes 2023-24
We didn’t quite have the nail biter finishes which we saw last year. But a couple of the divisions did go very close, with outcomes not determined until the last couple of fixture rounds.
Men’s Division 1
The title race was between Dartford and last season’s champions – Medway – coming into the last couple of fixture rounds.
Dartford went into their final match of the season against Tonbridge, aware that the destination of the title was in their own hands.
A single set against Tonbridge would secure the title, but Medway could still catch them if they couldn’t get that set.
Dartford prevailed 3-0 to take back the title from Medway, which left Medway requiring a single point – also against Tonbridge – to cement 2nd spot.
Whilst Medway took 2 points from the game, Tonbridge won in 5 sets and finished 3rd in the table.
Men’s Division 2
Spitfire men had been setting the pace in division 2 since the start of the season and ended it with an impressive 100%-win record, dropping only 4 sets in the process.
Dartford Spartans continued their development as a young team in the Kent leagues and finished a fairly comfortable 2nd in the division.
Women’s Division 1
Tonbridge were quickest out of the blocks in Women’s div 1 this season, winning their first 5 matches including 2 wins over last year’s champions – Dartford-Women 1.
Their first defeat came at the hands of Invicta, in January. That coincided with Dartford setting off on a sequence of wins which brought them back into contention.
Dartford’s win over Tonbridge (to bring the series between them back to 1-2) gave them the initiative and the final outcome would be determined by both teams’ final league matches of the season.
Tonbridge were first up and chalked up a 3-0 win over Maidstone Diamonds, to put themselves 2 points ahead of Dartford, with a superior sets difference.
Only a win would be enough for Dartford to take the title and they must have felt jittery when they lost the first set to Invicta to 15. But they rallied to take the next 3 sets and finished a single point ahead of Tonbridge, retaining their title.
Women’s Division 2
A new division for us, this season, with the continued growth in the number of women’s teams in the Kent leagues. It’s the first time we have ever had 2 women’s divisions and we hope to see the current expansion continue.
Like the men in division 2, Spitfire women set off at a strong pace from week 1 of the programme and ended the season unbeaten. A strong performance all round from a club new to the Kent League.
Strood women came in 2nd in the division, losing only to Spitfire (twice).
Foundation League
Our Foundation League is an informal league; there are no trophies or winners’ medals.
But, for the record, Strood completed a Dartford and Maidstone sandwich with Strood F-1 finishing top and Strood-F2 finishing 4th.
Of the 12 matches, 4 went to 5 sets, including a 221-point match between Strood-F1 and Maidstone Quartz (18-16 in the 5th set to Strood).
MVPs for 2023-24
Plate Final
Our selector was torn between 3 candidates:
Pratik Limbu for his control in back court, serving and setting
David Razvadauskas from Spitfire for strong middle hitting and blocking
Patryk Rogocz from Tonbridge for all round back court cover and hitting and some sharp line hits when in front court.
The final decision went to Pratik Limbu who made a difference when he came back on in the 2nd set, finding his hitters well and keeping Spitfire's tempo going.
Men’s Final
One player stood out, for our selector. Excellent defensive work kept his team in rallies when most of us thought the point was over. The award goes to Dartford's libero - Owen Excell.
Women's Final
There were plenty of potential winners for our selector and it was a tough choice to narrow them down. But in the end the award went to Dartford's setter - Bowie Lai - for her all-round contribution for her team and good distribution across her hitting options.
And on to the divisional winners:
It is interesting to note that there was a wide spread of votes across the divisions:
Men Div 1 = 36 names on the list
Men Div 2 = 30
Women Div 1 = 27
Women Div 2 = 24
Foundation League = 12 (from only 11 completed matches)
i. Men's Division 1
The last 2 seasons saw a battle between Riken Patel (Team Medway) and Uvis Bertulsons (Strood), with that contest ending 1-1.
A new contender emerged this season. The winner didn’t pick up their first nomination until league week 6, by which time several other players had already chalked up 2 nominations.
But he kept on getting nominations almost every time he played.
The winner was Ernest Museka from Tonbridge, with 7 nominations from his 9 appearances.
Ernest’s closest competitor this season was his former team-mate Virgil Ciocodan, with 4 nominations.
ii. Men's Division 2
A closer affair in this division, this season.
Our runners-up were Florin Vasiliu (Spitfire) and Robin Underwood (Tonbridge-2) who each picked up 4 votes.
Our winners – and there are 2 of them – each received 5 nominations.
They pretty much mirrored each other throughout the season, with never more than 1 vote separating them.
Our winners are Aadhil Hussain (Dartford Spartans) and Marcelo Vani (Dartford-2)
iii. Women’s Division 1
Our winner did well to earn as many nominations as she did, given that 5 of her team members also received votes (albeit only 1 vote each).
Our runner-up received 3 votes.
But the winner was Alice Covington – Maidstone Diamonds
iv. Women’s Division 2
We had 4 players from 4 different teams each collecting 3 votes, but they are this season’s runners-up.
This year’s winner was 1 of 3 players who picked up 5 votes last season, so she maintained her consistency this season.
Our winner is Boluwatife Sowunmi, from Team Medway.
v. Foundation League
The 16 votes cast were spread across 12 different players.
8 of them received a single nomination.
That leaves 4 players picking up the remaining 8 nominations.
So the maths mean that they must have picked up 2 votes each.
Our joint winners are:
o A J Jamboria (Dartford)
o Gareth Kong (Maidstone Quartz)
o Harry Wilmot (Strood – F2)
o Sonny Martin (Maidstone Quartz)
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