East Midlands Volleyball League
Sunday 26th January 2020 Leicester Athena 3 Hermitage 0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-19) Athena’s regional league team cruised to a 3-0 win over Hermitage. Adela stepped into the outside hitter role with both Julia and Ioana missing. Eli was setting as usual, Amanda and Sam played middle and Edyta and Tereza played as outside hitter .. Joy was the libero. Athena started brightly with Eli and Adela serving very well. Despite the first pass not being accurate, Eli was able to set up Edyta, Tereza and Adela for a number of killer hits. Hermitage had no answer to the constant attacks and Athena won the first set 25-9. The second set started scrappily. Athena were still accumulating points through their hard, pinpoint serving but the sharpness of attack was missing due to some sloppy passing. Alessandra was introduced for Tereza half way through the set and quickly eased into the pace of the match. Athena won the set 25-11. Alessandra kept her place for the start of the third set. The first pass improved and that allowed Athena to attack harder, but it also led to an increase of hitting errors. Joy’s passing, in particular, really picked up as she delivered the ball exactly where Eli wanted time and again. Halfway through the set, Terzea came back on, this time for Edyta. With two sets in the bank, Athena’s concentration level began to slip leading to a series of silly errors, but a time out with Hermitage leading 14-16 re-invigorated the team. Athena powered through the remainder of the set to win 25-19. Once more, Athena’s regional league team showed that they have some devastating power when serving and attacking. Well done to Adela for being nominated MVP. Thank you to Petra for refereeing and to Alex and Maria for scoring.
0 Comments
Leicestershire League
Wednesday 22nd January 2010 Leicester Athena 0 Loughborough Students 3 (11-25, 14-25, 9-25) Despite the scoreline, this was a much better performance by Athena's local league team, they were simply beaten by a much more experienced and better team. First Set Athena started with Ioana and Charlie as setters, Alex and Anna as middle hitters and Nikki and Maria as outside hitters. And they started very well. They passed well, they moved well around court and communicated well. Nikki's pass was excellent and, for such a young player, she really took ownership for the service receive. Ioana was chasing any wayward passes and getting the ball up for the hitters. However, Loughborough were very well organised, their pass always made it to their setter and their serving was strong and accurate. It was the serving that undid Athena and they began to stretch away with two very strong serve rounds to win 25-11. Second Set Athena started the second set with the same players, but this time they started slowly. Eventually, they began to pass better allowing Alex and Anna to hit hard through the middle. Yet again, though, service receive was Athena's weak point. Rachael replaced Charlie as setter and Sabina came on for Alex but they could not arrest the slide and they lost 25-14. Third Set Athena had a definitely youthful look about the team for the final set as Coach Paul made lots of changes. Emily and Charlie played outside, Sab and Alex played middle and Evie and Ioana played as setter. With so many changes, it was unsurprising the they struggled to gel, but the inexperienced team worked hard and showed a lot of promise. Although Athena's local team has yet to win a set this season, as individuals and as a team, they are improving. Ioana worked tirelessly and showed a lot of leadership. Sab's pass and hitting looked very good Evie was excellent as setter, Alex and Anna are becoming good middle hitters. A little bit more work on service receive that they will start to click! Thank you to Amanda for scoring, and to Barbora, Catarina for line judging. It was good to see so many of our junior squad turning up to play and help out. East Midlands Volleyball League
Sunday 13th January 2020 Lincoln Cannons 1 Leicester Athena 3 (25-21, 22-25, 16-25, 12-25) Athena's regional league team made up for a slow start by beating Lincoln Cannons 3-1. Athena started with Eli setting, Julia opposite, Sam and Amanda as middle hitters, Tereza debuting as outside with Edyta and Joy as libero. Their last match or training session was mid-December and the rustiness showed with poor communication, wayward passes and a lack of movement in the backcourt. Athena's slow start Lincoln were very strong in defence and they worked hard to recover balls. Their tactic seemed to be to get the ball over the net and wait for Athena to make mistakes and Athena duly obliged. Poor serves, failing to deal with soft Lincoln serves and poor positioning meant that Lincoln won the first set 25-21. Coaches Paul and Sarah kept the same side for the second set and they slowly started to come alive. The pass was more controlled and Eli was beginning to find Tereza and Edyta. Tereza, in particular, began to hit with real authority. It was close and edgy still, but Athena won the second set 25-22. Athena begin to dominate Athena was now started to flow. More accurate passing allowed Eli to set beautifully and Edyta was showing great intelligence with her placing and Tereza was using her height to her maximum advantage. Through the middle, Sam was starting to fire and Julia was using her court-smarts to find holes in the Lincoln defence. The serving was more consistent, putting pressure on Lincoln who were making more and more mistakes. Athena eased to the third set 25-16. As Athena started to click into gear, Lincoln started to retreat and the fourth set was a . comfortable one. Amanda's serving was hitting its mark as was Eli's and Edyta and the whole team was beginning to move and adjust and play like a well-oiled team. Ioana had to be rushed onto court as an emergency outside hitter while Tereza had to leave the court for a couple of points for a nature break, but nothing phased the team now. Athena won the set 25-12. After such a long lay-off, it was a very good performance from Athena. They threw off any rustiness to dominate Lincoln and win their 5th match of the season. Eli wins MVP Well done to Eli for her MVP nomination but there were valuable contributions from everybody. Leicestershire League
Friday 10th January 2020 PVC 3 Leicester Athena 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-5) A very inexperienced local league team struggled to make an impact against a solid PVC team. Missing Ioana and Amanda, Athena started with Charlie, Eve, Maria, Anna, Alex and Rachel, who was a starting player for the first time. Athena started slowly, falling 6-1 down before Coach Paul called a time out. Nervousness and tightness meant that Athena's first pass was non-existant. Athena continued to struggle until they were 12-5 down. Youngsters Evie and Nikki replaced Eve and Maria and the team relaxed and began to make headway, clawing the set back to within 2 points before PVC closed the set out 25-19. Athena started the second set with the same team that started the first but they really struggled to cope with PVC's serving. They fell behind and lost their confidence. Once again, Coach Paul made changes with Evie and Sab coming on but there was to be no turning the set round. For the third set, Sab, Nikki and Evie all started but Athena still failed to pass the ball to the setters and they lost the last set 25-5. It was a disappointing defeat, but it is a reflection on the inexperience in the team. Charlie, Anna and Alex have been with us for less than 3 years, Alex coming back from a nasty looking ankle injury in October. Eve, Maria and Sab have been with us less than a year. Rachel started playing this year and Nikki and Evie are young and learning quickly. So we will learn so me lessons, work hard and get ready for the next match. |
Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|