East Midlands Volleyball League Sunday 24th November 2019 Leicester Athena 3 Ashfield Vipers 1 Athena's Regional league team produced their best performance of the season to see off a spirited Ashfield Vipers team. Athena started with Eli setting, Adela playing as opposite, Sam and Amanda through the middle, Edyta and Julia as outside hitters and Joy as libero. Both sides started off tentatively with serve and pass errors but Vipers began to eke out a lead as Athena's serve receive took time to gel. Evenso, Vipers could not get away and Athena kept plugging away with some excellent scrambling but, try as they might, they could not overhaul Vipers and Vipers won the first set 25-20. Coach Paul switched Julia and Adela for the second set and that immediately produced results with the team looking much more balanced. They played outstanding volleyball, with a solid first pass allowing Eli to set up Sam, Adela and Edyta for winners. In defence, Sam, Amanda and Eli made crucial blocks. Adela shone when serving as well, serving 9 winners in a row to break Viper's resistance. Athena won the second set 25-10.
Athena were unchanged for the third set and Vipers came back hard, with excellent back court hits and scrambling. Athena didn't play as well but they worked hard and chased down lost causes and scrapped their way to win the set 27-25. It was a measure of their progress that they stayed focussed when set point down to clinch the third set and take a lead. The same side started the fourth and Athena established a slim early lead and worked hard to keep Vipers at bay. Adela and Joy were covering everything in back court, Julia was tipping and placing the ball in gaps in the Vipers defence, Edyta was hitting very well and Amanda was hitting winners through the middle. Tereza replaced Sam halfway through the set with instructions to close the set out. Athena clinched the fourth set 25-19 to win 3-1. It was an outstanding performance, full of technique, energy, focus and demonstrated the quality within the regional league squad. Eli was nominated MVP by Vipers, reward for her hard low serves, her excellent setting, her covering and her tips and blocks. A complete performance. However, every single player excelled and contributed to a memorable win against a very good Vipers team. Thank you to Petra for refereeing, Alex for scoring and Ioana for cheering so wildly from the bench.
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