London Docklands Volleyball won their fourth five-set match of the season on Saturday against a tenacious Newcastle Staffs side

London Docklands Volleyball won their fourth five-set match of the season on Saturday against a tenacious Newcastle Staffs side.

This win lifted Docklands into second place in the table with the help of Sheffield, who beat Malory to spoil the only remaining unbeaten record in the division.

In the first set it looked as though neither side wanted to win, with several serving errors disrupting the rhythm of both teams. Nevertheless Raf D�rr stole the set for Docklands.

Staffs took advantage of the momentum they had at the end of set to win the second set 25-15 butd after some stern words from coach Legrand, Docklands started to dominate their hosts again.

A block and two consecutive kills by Di Bella took Docklands 20-7 ahead and although Staffs managed to make double figures, two blocks by Sliti sealed the set for the East End outfit, 25-13.

At 12-8 up in the fourth set it looked as though they could clinch their first four-set victory.

However, Staffs had other ideas as they captured the next set.

Docklands took an early lead in the next set, before both sides exchanged points until consecutive blocks by Halatchev and Di Bella saw Docklands lead 8-6 at the change of ends.

However, Staffs again tied the scores at 8-8 before a Bulgarian double from Halatchev and George Uzunov took Docklands 11-9 up.

Docklands held on to their slender advantage as Sliti pounced to move the score to 13-11.

The pressure was telling and two hitting errors in a row made Docklands' life easy, gifting the visitors a 15-11 fifth set win.

Docklands will now look to consolidate their position against eighth-placed City of Bristol next Saturday at Bacon's College.