Leicestershire Local League Monday 19th February Wyggeston and QE1 0 Leicester Athena 3 Athena's local league team eased to a well-deserved win against Wyggeston and QE1 on Monday night.
With only 6 players available, it became an excellent opportunity to bed in skills, develop team work and gain confidence. Ioana and Hannah were setters (despite Hannah having a damaged thumb), Charlie played through the middle with captain Liza and Julia and Kasia provided a youthful outside hitting pair. Against an inexperienced Wyggy team, the key was to ensure the serves were in and accurate. The first set was close for the first 10-15 points until Athena relaxed into the game a little more and Julia's serving helped pull out a healthy lead that they never relinquished. Some words of encouragement from coach Paul led to a much cleaner performance in the second set with a far better first pass, especially from Hannah and Charlie. Although Wyggy rallied in the middle of the set, Athena again closed the set out comfortably. The third set turned out to be a much easier affair with Wyggy losing a bit of spirit and Athena's confidence soaring. Overall, it was an excellent performance from the team. Ioana is starting to rediscover her touch as setter after a long lay-off, Kasia's work in back court was very good and everyone contributed to the 25-14, 25-16, 25-9 victory.
0 Comments
East Midlands League Saturday 17th February Ashfield Vipers 1 2 Leicester Athena 3 Athena's regional league came back from a two set deficit to stun Ashfield Vipers 1. Athena started with a strong line up of Sarah, Alysia, Kristy, Adela, Sam and Kamila, but they very slowly as they struggled t0 cope with the cold temperature and the small, dark sports hall. They were tentative with their first pass and their hitting. Alex made her debut for Athena, coming on for Alysia as opposite hitter at 9:16 down but, although Athena started to close the gap, Vipers 1 took advantage to wi the first set 20-25. Athena started with second set with Alex in for Alysia and it was a close contest all the way through the set. At 17:18 down, Liza came on for Kamila whose serving had yet to hit the heights. However, Athena could not close the set out and Vipers took a 2-0 lead. Athena went back to their starting line-up with Sarah and Kristy making their feelings known ... we had not come this far to lose. Those words had an immediate effect as Athena scorched into the lead and powered to a 25-15 set win as Kamila found her serve and Adela and Kristy hitting with power and accuracy. With the wind in their sails, Athena repeated the score to even the match up at two sets apiece. So far this season, Athena had lost twice in the fifth set, against Viper's National League side in the National Cup and against Darkstar in the league. This time there was to be no heart-break as Athena withstood a rejuvenated Vipers team to win 15-12. Huge congratulations to Sarah, Alysia, Kristy (who was awarded MVP), Sam, Adela, Kamila, Alex and Liza. Now it was onto the Vipers 2 ... East Midlands League Saturday 17th February Ashfield Vipers 2 0 Leicester Athena 3 Athena brought Emma, Alex and Faye into the team for the second match as they switched to a 2 setter system to accommodate the players available. Faye was also making her debut and Emma making her second appearance.
Athena started with Alex and Faye setting, Sarah moving to outside hitter with Adela and Sam and Kamila staying as middle hitters. The first few points, Athena looked a little disjointed, which was to be expected considering the switch in format and the new players but soon, Kamila's serving and their overall technical ability started to show and Athena won 25-7. Emma, Alysia and Kristy came on for Alex, Adela and Sam and they quickly got into their groove to win 25-9. In the third set, Emma and Alex were setters, Kristy and Kamila as middle hitters and Sarah and Adela as outside hitters. Their power and experience was too much for a very young Vipers 2 team and they completed the 3-0 victory. Kamila took MVP as reward for her great serving and devastating middle hitting. It was an excellent effort by all the players and the pizza tasted especially sweet as we went for a team meal afterwards. We are coming to the end of our second season and we have continued to grow. Over the past few months, we have attracted a whole host of players who will become stars with Athena.
Players such as Emma and her sister, Teo, Laura, Ioana, Algi, Monika, new setters such as Faye and Alex and younger players like Sunny, Rebecca and Emily ... all prove that there is so much potential for women's volleyball in Leicester. It is a source of pride that we have such a welcoming atmosphere, that we have such a fun group and that people want to join us. Our challenge is to carry on developing our players, giving them support and helping them enjoy the sport and grow as individuals and as a team. Plans are already in place which we will discuss in more detail later. Leicestershire Local League Wednesday 14th February Leicester Athena 0 Loughborough Uni 3 A very experimental Athena local team struggled to match the power and accuracy of a strong Loughborough Uni team.
With so many new players joining recently, coach Paul wanted to give them court time to see how they would react and that inexperience showed. Athena struggled with service receive against a strong Loughborough team that contained a number of regional league players, but once they got into rallies, their technical abilities showed through. Athena started each of the three sets with a different team to give people time on court and, understandably, the lack of consistency meant that they started slowly, giving Loughborough a big lead but then began to claw back. Despite the result, coach Paul was happy to have the chance to take a look at so many players and to give court time to people. It really is great to see so many players making their debut for Athena, so well done to our debutants Alex, Teo, Faye and Ioana as well as to Emily, Charlie, Emma, Kasia, Hannah, Julia, Erin and captain Liza. East Midlands League Friday 9th February Loughborough Uni 1 Leicester Athena 3 Athena's regional league team got back to winning ways with a convincing performance against Loughborough University. Watched by Charlie and Ioanna from the local league team plus a few friends and family, all who had made the trip to Loughborough, Athena started with a strong team with Sarah setting, Sam and Kamila hitting through the middle plus Adela and Kristy as outside hitters, Athena eased into a strong lead in the first set. That allowed the coach to bring Liza on for Kamila and Julia on for Kristy. Athena won the set 25-13. Athena started the second set with the same 6 that finished the first as coach Paul showed his determination to give his local league players more experience at this level. The re-jigged team worked hard to eek out a strong lead that they kept through to the end, winning the second set 25-17. For the third set, Athena brought Emma on as setter for her first regional match, with Sarah moving to opposite. Emma showed no nerves at all, sending clear high passes to both middle and out wide, giving Kamila and Kristy lots of great sets which they duly dispatched for winning hits. As the set drew on, Athena's first pass became more wayward and that led to players being pulled out of position. On the other side of the net, Loughborough rallied to defend admirably and they deservedly won the third set 25-20. Athena reverted their starting 6 for the start of the fourth set and, having dropped a set, they responded with a performance of real power, blasting into a 14-2 lead. Julia and Liza both got more court time as Athena closed the match out with a 3 sets to 1 win (25-13, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14). It was an assured performance which allowed the coach to experiment and give valuable experience to players who should become regular regional league players in the coming months. East Midlands League Sunday 4th February Derby Darkstar 3 Leicester Athena 2 Sometimes, you play a great match, work really hard and just get pipped at the end, leaving you with a strange set of emotions, pride in the performance and disappointment in the result.
Athena took on Derby Darkstar on Sunday morning and took Darkstar all the way to five sets. The set scores showing how close it was with Athena losing out 21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 8-15. Athena started with Kamila, Sam, Kristy, Adela and Sarah and started well, but seemed to lose their way in the middle of the set, giving Darkstar a lead. Although they worked hard to peg Darkstar back, they ran out of points as Darkstar won 25-21. In the second set, Kristy switched to middle and Petra came on as outside hitter, Sam moved to the bench. A slow start gave Darkstar a 5 point lead before Athena started to claw their way back. A strong finish, with Petra and Adela beginning to hit well through the Darkstar block, saw Athena win the second set. The third set followed a similar path, a slow start by Athena and a strong showing in the second half of the set allowed Athena to go into a 2-1 lead. However, Darkstar powered back to win the fourth set and take the match to a decider. At the turn-around, Athena were only 6-8 down but Darkstar served well to take the final set and the match. Well done to Kristy who was voted MVP, but special mention to Petra who hit and served really well. |
Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|