Volleyball: 18-month unbeaten run goes west

City of Edinburgh tasted league defeat for the first time in 18 months when they went down in a tight five-set match with Glasgow Mets in the men's Schelde Sports Scottish Volleyball League.

The champions, who have had to re-cast their team after the loss of setter Gavin Watt and hitter Colin Macnab to French pro teams in the summer, went down 25-18, 23-25, 25-15, 21-25, 13-15.

The result, this early in the season, shows that Edinburgh face a fight to retain their title after going through their entire league programme undefeated last season.

The only defeat came in the Scottish Cup semi-finals but that merely proved a blip.

Edinburgh beat Mets in the Dynamo Cup pre-season tournament last month but their opponents, who lost their opening match to Glasgow Ragazzi the previous weekend, knew they could not afford another slip-up on Saturday.

Edinburgh Jets won their first match of the season, beating Troon PA 25-18, 25-16, 25-23 in Ayrshire.

In the women's first division, City of Edinburgh dominated Glasgow International 25-2, 25-3, 25-15 to move to the top of the table.

Troon PA are the only other unbeaten team in the division but dropped a set to Edinburgh Jets on Saturday before winning through 25-14, 19-25, 25-14, 25-10.

Edinburgh Jets II let a 2-1 set lead slip against South Ayrshire and lost 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 16-18.