Athena showed no sign of nerves on a big day for the club. Needed to win both matches to be sure of promotion, Athena dominated Coventry and Warwick Riga.
Athena started with Paulina serving and Alysia as opposite. Teresa and Karolina played as middle hitters, Diana and Kristy played as outside hitters and Petra as libero. Athena started strongly and built a big lead only for Riga to claw it back, but solid serving and a strong attack helped Athena to win their first set of the day, 25-19. With that first set on the board, Athena then relaxed with Karolina in devastating form at the net, Tereza serving point after point and Petra solid in defence. Athena sealed the match 25-19, 25-12, 25-13. Karolina was named MVP.
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That's what it meant to Athena's National League squad to win against Norwich and it was a phenomenal performance against excellent opposition.
For the last home match of the season, Athena played their best volleyball. They started with Paulina setting, Adela opposite, Karolina and Tereza middle, Diana and Kristy outside with Petra switching to libero. Athena's strong start Once again, they started strongly, buoyed by their earlier win and by the chance to pit their wits against a team that had only lost one match all season. Karolina's and Kristy's serving, Karolina's monster hits opened up Norwich so many times and some terrific blocjking blunted Norwich's dangerous attack. They sped into a big lead winning the set 25-13. But Norwich showed why they are top of the league coming back in the second set. They put on an awesome display of fast-paced attack and committed defence that had Athena all at sea. Two sets in and the match was level. Close rallies and fabulous skill From then on, both teams played their A game and it was tight all the way through. In the third set, Sarah came onto set and her nous made Athena a little more street tough. Adela's passing, coverage and hitting through opposite were excellent, and Kristy and Karolina continued to show why they are two of the best attacking players in this division. Athena kept their noses in front to win the set 25-21. Athena started the fourth set brightly, playing with confidence and commitment. There were some excellent long rallies with both teams recovering the ball time and time again. Norwich seemed to be able to hit from anywhere and put the Athena defence under constant pressure, but Athena held firm right through to the closing points of the set .. until Norwich fought back to win the set 27-25. Athena shows true resilience to win It was a heart-wrenching feeling to miss out the fourth set when they had been ahead for so long, but Athena showed true resilience to burst into a 6-2 lead in the fifth and deciding set only for Norwich to fight back once again. But Athena kept their composure and sealed a memorable and fabulous 3-2 win 16-14 in the final set. It was a high quality match where both teams played great volleyball and it showed how far Athena have come in such a short time to take on the table toppers and beat them ... it showed great technique, great togetherness, great resilience. Athena started their final home triangular of the season with a convincing win against Telford.
Athena started with Sarah setting, Alysia opposite, Tereza and Karolina through the middle, Petra and Kristy as outside hitters and Diana as libero. Athena have been guilty of slow starts so far this season but not this time. They leapt into action from the first point. Sarah's smart serving helping pull out a quick lead which they never looked under danger. Their pass was consistently accurate which allowed Sarah to feed Karolina and Kristy for big hits. The second set started off in a similar vein, but after the first technical time-out, Athena started to freeze. Their pass became jagged and inaccurate and they were undone by Telford's smart attacks and lobs and dinks. But after the second technical time-out, they re-found their focus to seal the second set 25-17. Kamila had come on for Tereza in the second set and she started the third and came up with a couple of excellent hits. Alysia was as accurate as ever hitting opposite and, b the third set, Petra was hitting hard and flat. With everyone playing with a really relaxed and calm attitude, Athena powered to the win 25-9. It was an excellent performance against a dangerous opponent who started the day in fourth position. National League Division 3C
Sunday 20th January 2019 Leicester Athena 3 Loughborough Students 0 Although Athena had a win against Loughborough in a shield match in early December, Loughborough came out strong forcing Athena to fight for every point In set one, the starting line up was Sarah as setter, Alysia as opposite, Kristy and Diana through four, Kamila and Tereza through middle with Algi playing libero. A good first pass gave Sarah options among her hitters. Alysia in particular had some great shots placing the ball in areas that Loughborough struggled to cover. With Sarah's sneaky backsets over to Loughborough and Algi's great defence, Athena were able to squeeze out a first set win 27-25. In set two, Athena's momentum continued. Adela came on for Alysia and proved to be an asset to the team. She would not let the ball hit the floor, even if that meant her being out place on occasion. With great serve receive and excellent defence, Athena was able to pull off another set win with final score 25-19. The final set challenged Athena and it was a constant battle for points between the two teams. Athena's intensity dropped giving Loughborough the lead 11-16. However, with some good defence, including a great one-armed dig by Sarah and some line shots by Kristy, Athena were able to close the gap. It was neck and neck up to the very end but Diana showed courage and what she can truly do with some incredible hits that finished the set 28-26 Athena wins another league match 3-0!! Well played by everyone with special shout out to Algi for winning MVP and to Diana for her amazing back court defence and outstanding hitting. Match Report by Kristy Logan National League Division 3C
Sunday 20th January 2019 Leicester Athena 3 Telford 0 After an already hectic morning playing against Loughborough Students in the first game of our home triangular fixture, Leicester Athena had to prepare again for another match against Telford Ladies for the 3rd fixture of the day. At our last home game, the pause in between games turned out to be detrimental to our own mentality – meaning we were slow to get our heads into the match before. We weren’t going to let that be the case again for this match. Athena makes a strong start In the first set, Athena started with: Paulina setting, Alysia opposite, Diana and Petra outside, Kristy and Tereza through the middle with Algi as our trusted libero once again. The girls rocketed off to a great start, with pressure coming from our service, Telford struggled to get their first pass to the setter meaning a lot of their attacks were coming from off the net and weren’t as powerful as they had wished. By far the most outstanding moment of the set was the constant serving, receiving, and hitting by Tereza. She served for 7 points and every receive she took during this round of service was beautifully passed right to the setter. This meant that Athena could do what they do best – dig, set, hit, and Telford just couldn’t keep up. Athena won the first set 25-6. Athena take control The line-up for the second set was kept the same by Coach Gordon, who decided it was best to keep the momentum from the first set going. At this point, Telford raised the level of their game, and although they tried to place the ball in the corner of our court to catch us out – this didn’t mean much as majority of the time it was covered by Kristy or Algi anyways. With every pass that came in, Paulina was able to beautifully set it to exactly the right place so it could be killed with style and Telford definitely underestimated the hitting power of both Diana and Petra. The end of the set finished with an absolutely cracking shot from Diana – hitting the ball straight through the blockers hands and right onto the floor before anyone had the time to blink. The second set finished 25-22. Three and out! The 3rd set was once again kept the same, though Adela did come on for Alysia during the middle of this set. Athena were fighting hard, running on motivation and adrenaline, wanting to end the game then and there, and therefore taking the 3-0 win for themselves. Our passing unit once again were doing fantastically, picking up every ball that wasn’t already covered by the block, making it an easy job for Paulina to set so one of the hitters could kill the ball. A fantastic moment (though maybe it shouldn’t have happened in the first place!) was when a miscommunication happened between Kristy and Petra, meaning Petra had to dive “for her life” across the front of the net and still managed to get the ball back up so Paulina could set it (but luckily not to Petra again who was still on the floor!), which of course became Athena’s point. The set went quickly, with Athena squeezing out every last point they could. It really showed as Tereza was libero’d off in the backcourt for Algi at point 8, and only returned front court again at point 24! Of course, Athena won the set 25-12. Tereza's MVP award Massive congratulations goes out to Tereza, who bagged herself her first MVP vote of the season! It really was well and truly deserved. Once again it was another double home victory, and even better than last time as both games of the day were 3-0. These 2 wins mean that we are now placed 3rd in the W3C League, with 2 games in hand on the teams in 1st and 2nd place. Our next game is on the 10th February in Coventry – a game which should put us into 2nd place if we win both. Match report by Sarah National Shield Round 3
Wednesday Wednesday 9th January 2019 Leicester Athena 0 Derby Darkstar 3 Leicester Athena put up a great fight against Division 1 opponents but bowed out of this years' cup competition at the third round stage. Derby are flying high in Division 1 and provided Athena with their stiffest test to date, but Athena started brightly in the first set, with Sarah setting, Adela playing opposite. Kamila and Tereza as middle hitters and Kristy and Diana as outside hitters. Athena played with commitment and fearlessly and they pushed their opponents all the way through the first set, up until the second technical timeout. But Derby showed their greater power pushing ahead to win the first set 25-17. Derby were now in their groove and their hitting and float serving was causing Athena problems, but Adela's cover and work ethic kept the rallies going and Kristy's hitting was punching holes in Derby's defence. Despite their determination, Derby pulled ahead to win the second set to 17 once again. Paulina replaced Sarah as setter but Athena still continued to struggle to handle Derby's greater power and accuracy and the third set was lost 25-16. It was a brave fight by Athena who were without a number of players. A huge congratulation to Adela who was voted MVP by Darkstar in her first match playing as opposite. A worthy reward for her hard work. National League Division 3C
Sunday 16th December 2018 Leicester Athena 3 Tamworth Spartans 1 Athena won their first ever home National League match by beating Tamworth in an extremely entertaining match. In a clash of styles, Athena’s power based attack were pushed a long way by a street-wise and dogged Tamworth team. Athena started with Paulina setting, Alysia as opposite, Kristy and Petra as outside, Tereza and Karolina as middle and Algi as libero. Athena started slowly, they looked tentative and nervous and Tamworth built a strong early lead, but Athena began to pass to the setter, Paulina created opportunities for Karolina, in particular, who finished off with some fearsome hits. Athena slowly ate into Tamworth's advantage and took the set beyond the 25-point to finally clinch a gritty win, 28-26. This gave the Athena girls a huge confidence boost and they dominated the second set with some great serving from Paulina, Karolina and Petra. They won the set 25-13. Then Tamworth showed their quality by pushing back and grinding out another tight, tough set, 27-25. They refused to let the ball drop and their setter found gaps time and again with her tips. But Athena were not to be deterred and lifted the quality of their serve, pass, set and hit to win the fourth set 25-15 and win their first home match 3-1. It was a fabulous performance against a really good Tamworth team and it shows the Athena are here to fight all the way to the end. Well done, ladies! National League Division 3C
Sunday 16th December 2018 Leicester Athena 3 Northampton 2 Northampton recovered from a poor match against Tamworth to really stretch Athena in the last match of the day. Athena started brightly with Sarah setting, Monika as opposite, Kamila and Karolina as middle hitters, Algi as libero and Adela and Kristy as outside hitters. Despite some variable passing, Sarah was able to feed Kristy and Kamila with some excellent sets and they were dispatched viciously. Athena edged a bigger and bigger lead throughout the set to win 25-17. If Athena were feeling complacent, that was wiped away by Northampton who won the next two sets with a tenacious performance in backcourt with some fabulous covering of hits and tips – they always made Athena have to take one more swing to win the point. Northampton won the second set 25-17 and even with a change at setter and middle (Paulina and Tereza replacing Sarah and Kamila), they could not break down the dogged defence from Northampton. Northampton won the third set 25-22. With Alysia and Petra restored to the court, Athena roared right back, working hard to win some very gritty, long rallies and levelling the match with a 25-16 set win. Athena certainly showed no nerves in the final set shoot out, dominating every phase of play to win 15-5. First home series, two wins and a first 5 set win … a very good return for a day of hard work. Well done to Tereza for her backcourt work (not bad for a middle), to Adela for some her amazing pickups, Kristy for her hitting and Petra for some fearsome serving. National Shield Round 2 Sunday 2nd December 2018 Loughborough Students 0 Leicester Athena 3 Leicester Athena’s national league team played in their 3rd ever National Cup game on the 2nd December against Loughborough Students. Both teams play in the same division, W3C, however, we have not played each other yet this season. Going into the game blind, unsure of the strength of their opponent, Leicester Athena came to the game with 10 of their players. Coming from an early morning training session, and a pub lunch, the team were ready to play to the best of their ability. The first set started with Paulina setting, Alysia opposite, Kamila and Karolina through middle, Petra and Kristy outside, and with Algi as our libero. Athena were receiving first and won the first point. With some strong blocking from Kristy and Karolina they then quickly strode into an 11-6 lead. Although Loughborough rallied and gained in score, using some strong attacks, Algi always seemed to be in the right place at the right time (sometimes thanks to a reminder from Coach Gordon!) and managed to pass the ball perfectly to Paulina to setup a strong attack which more than always won the point. Athena finished out that set 25-19. The second set started similar to the first, the only change was to bring Diana on for Petra through the outside. The set started slightly slower than the first, however Athena strode into a minor lead, keeping that up throughout the majority of the set. Some great passing meant we were able to setup for a quick attack. Diana, coming from her beach volleyball past, threw Loughborough with her short roll shots through 4, which caught them out many times, earning us some well-deserved points. A great moment was when Alysia and Kamila blocked back-to-back hits, shutting out Loughborough’s outside attack and creating a euphoric sense of pride. We quickly strode away, with Kristy serving 5 points at the end of the game to get us to match point, then Diana serving the last winner point to finish the set out 25-17. Coach Gordon changed the lineup slightly for the 3rd set, with Sarah setting, Monika opposite, Kristy and Diana through outside, Karolina and Kamila middle, with Algi as libero. This last set was a bit more touch and go, with Athena falling into a loss of 6-13 when Coach Gordon called a timeout. It took Athena a while to get their heads back into the game, with the passing becoming a bit wayward, and Loughborough’s game rising. It got to a 12-18 deficit for Athena to really get into the game, and not wanting to push the game to 4 sets, Petra came on for Diana and the girls started to be more accurate with their technique. When it came to captain Sarah’s turn to serve, she managed one ace and a couple of non-returnable serves. The rest were returned and picked up easily, set up, and attacked with ferocity. We clawed it back and were neck and neck throughout the rest of the game to 24-24. Diana served the next 3 points, and Athena finished the set 26-24.
Athena had just won their first ever National Cup game and are through to the next round! We said at the beginning of the season that although participating in the National Cup was fun and purposeful to take what we practice into a real game, it wasn’t going to be our priority over our league games. However, that does not mean that we weren’t excited to win! We go onto play the next round of the Shield tournament on the 6th January at our home venue of De Montfort University. Match Report by Sarah Booth, Photo by Marcin. National League Division 3C
Sunday 4th November 2018 Nottingham Rockets 3 Leicester Athena 1 Athena lost their first NVL match as they came up against a very organised and dangerous Rockets team. After the first match against Vipers, Coach Gordon made one change to the side that finished against Vipers with Petra coming on for Diana, Monika as opposite, Karolina and Tereza middle, Paulina setting and Kristy as outside. Once more Paulina's serving was clinical as was Kristy's hitting and Petra's passing. It meant that Rockets could not cope with Athena's firepower, Athena winning the first set 25-9. The same team started the second set and it was a tight affair with Rockets stepping up their block and backcourt defence. The set was nip and tuck, with the lead changing several times but, in the end, Rockets created a lead which Athena could not catch up and Rockets won 25-20. Once again Petra and Algi produced a great display in back court and Monika's hitting as opposite won a lot of points. Kamila replaced Tereza and Adela replaced Kristy for the third set .. but the serving began to falter with every player serving out at least once. The first pass began to flatten out reducing the hitting opportunities. Kamila got a few great hits in through the middle, Petra's hitting was consistent and won point after point and Adela's pass grew as the set went on. Despite all this, destructive hitting from Rockets caused problems to our block and Rockets won 25-21. Kristy and Sarah returned to the line-up for the final set but it was clear that Athena players were tiring. They were quieter on court, not moving as quickly and the pass began to lose its accuracy. Despite more great hitting from Kristy and Monika, Rockets tied up the match with a 25-21 win. It was a good wake-up call to the NVL newbies ... proving that there are big, strong teams out there and that fitness counts. Well done to Monika for her MVP nomination. |
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