National League Division 3C
Sunday 4th November 2018 Ashfield Vipers 0 Leicester Athena 3 Athena put in a very strong performance against Ashfield Vipers in the reverse fixture of our first NVL triangular. Athena started with an imposing line-up: Sarah setting, Tereza and Karolina through the middle, Diana and Kristy outside and Algi as libero. The match started tight until it came to Alysia's serve - her deep, looping serves caused Vipers problems and Athena managed to eke out a lead. Diana's hitting was assured, accurate and moved the Ashfield defence around whereas Kristy provided a number of spectacular kills. Athena won an edgy set 25-16. Paulina replaced Sarah as setter for the second set and Athena upped the intensity. Paulina starred with her serving, as she helped the team to an 8-0 lead which Ashfield could not recover from. Athena were more vocal and sharper on the pass. This enabled Paulina to set up the hitters and Karolina and Kristy were in devastating form as they buried hit after hit. For the third set, Monika came on for Alysia. The serving was on point as Kristy, Karolina and Paulina all caused Vipers problems with their serve. Diana and Algi were immense in back court as they picked up everything and delivered pass upon pass to Paulina's head. Athena rounded out the match with a clear win 25-16, 25-10, 25-14. Vipers nominated Kristy as MVP but we all through that Algi was the real star. She was outstanding as libero.
0 Comments
National League Division 3C
Sunday 21st October 2018 Ashfield Vipers 0 Leicester Athena 3 Athena started strongly during their 2nd match of the day, this time against Ashfield Vipers. With a starting lineup of: Sarah setting, Monika opposite, Karolina and Kamila middle, and Petra and Kristy outside the only change to our usual order of play was Diana, who starred as our libero for the first time with our team as Algi couldn’t stay for the 2nd game. However, this made no difference to the way Athena usually play as they made their name known to Vipers, and with great serving and great attacking, they beat Vipers 25-6 in the first set. Vipers started to get their heads in the game more in the second set, and with a substitution of Tereza for Kamila, and Adela for Petra, there was a slight delay in Athena getting settled in the second set. It took the team a while to really get going, losing a few points in the beginning of the set from silly mistakes which were very unlike us. However, with some brilliant defence work from Diana, it made the way for Sarah to set to all attacking players and it was just too much for Vipers to keep up with, so we soared away to a 25-20 win. In the last set, despite some players now being tired from having played 2 matches in a row, Athena kept up their focus and with a further change of Petra back on for Kristy - the team came back from a few points deficit to a trail blazing win of 25-16. When they won, there was a huge amount of cheering because once again, Athena had won in their first National League games! This was our first triangular ever as a club, but also our first games in National League, and Athena absolutely flew away with their performance, impressing not only their supporters, opposition, coach, but more importantly, themselves! We play Nottingham Rockets and Ashfield Vipers in another triangular again on the 4th November in Nottingham. Lets hope we can recreate the same success as Sunday! Match Report by Sarah Booth National League Division 3C Sunday 21st October 2018 Nottingham Rockets 0 Leicester Athena 3 Athena's first National League Division 3 game on Sunday for Athena was a great success. Against Nottingham Rockets, Athena started strong and kept their game on the same pace. The teamwork and good communication on court stayed with Athena players until the end and resulted in a 3:0 win. Coach Gordon’s line up decision for our Bunnies was Paulina setting, Alysia opposite, Karolina and Tereza through middle, Kristy and Petra as outside hitters with an amazing support of Algi as libero. Athena’s serve and receive was good and that created a great opportunity for Paulina to set to all attacking players. A strong play and good movement helped Athena to win the first set 25:15. In the second set Tereza, playing with a cold, was substituted for Kamila as a middle player. Support and cheering from Sarah, Diana, Monika, Tereza and Adela kept the six on the court motivated and focused. After losing 3 points, it was Kristy’s turn to serve. Great consistent serving and strong attack helped Athena to keep the serve on their side and they won the set 25:3. The final set was a bit more intense as Athena lost their focus and made unnecessary mistakes. A strong attack through the middle from Karolina and great pick-ups from Algi as libero made sure that the bunnies did not give up and bounced back stronger then ever and turned the set around which meant they won 25:18. When the ball landed on the ground last time in the game and score changed to 25, the happiness and joy of Athena’s players and coach Gordon was amazing, after all…they had just won their first NATIONAL LEAGUE season game! Great work on the court and off the court from all players and congratulations to Kristy to be nominated as MVP.
One last thing ... we would like to point out one thing on this picture. Look at that COVER! Match Report by Petra Szőllősyová If the National League squad wanted a peek into what challenges lay ahead, they certainly got it on Sunday in Round 1 of the National Cup. Against a very experienced and very organised Lincoln Cannons, Athena struggled to get into the match until the the third set as they lost 3-0, With such little time together to knit the existing regional league squad and the new recruits together, this was always going to be a tough match but there were some good signs for the future. Last year's Division 3C champions certainly started strongly as the Athena girls seemed a little over-awed by the occasion. Athena began with Sarah setting, Alysia opposite, Kristy and Kamila through the middle, Petra and new player Diana as outside hitters and Algi as libero. Unfortunately, they looked leaden-footed in service receive, the serving was off-key and the hitting was not decisive enough to breach Lincoln's defence and Lincoln ran out 25-13 winners. Coach Gordon freshened things up for the second set by bringing Paulina on for Sarah and Monika on for Alysia but Lincoln quickly re-asserted their authority to spring into a 10-2 lead. In the first set, Athena managed to settle down but they couldn't find a good rhythm in the second as Lincoln continually found holes in their defence. For the final set, Kristy moved to outside in place of Diana and Tereza came into the middle. With Kristy out wide, the team looked a lot more structured, Kristy's commanding voice making a difference to the defence and her hitting creating a lot of problems for Lincoln. The set was neck and neck with neither team getting more than a point advantage until Lincoln just edged it 25-21, winning the match 3-0. Despite the scoreline, there were some great signs for Athena, The new players showed well, including Tereza creating some fabulous blocks on her debut, Paulina looking assured as a setter and Diana looked very useful as an outside hitter. Once they bed in to the team and learn how each other works, it should be a very exciting team. Huge thanks to Sports Way Management for our fabulous kit. It is a beautiful design, they were really helpful and turned the order round in double quick time.
Athena's new NVL squad looked good in their pre-season friendly against Ashfield Vipers. Using a mixture of players from last year's title winning regional league squad and new additions, coach Gordon MacDonald was able to try out a number of different permutations and, considering that the squad have not yet had a training session together, they pulled out an excellent performance to win 4 out the five sets played.
New setter Paulina put in a very good performance, Petra was outstanding, new hitter Diane showed great promise and, across the whole squad, there were some really pleasing elements. after the match, Gordon said "Although there are a few things to work on, the basic core of what we want worked well". Many thanks to Ashfield for coming down to play and we look forward to seeing them again in the league. Excitement builds as the fixtures for our first ever season in the National League come out. Check our National League page for all the details.
We start on the 14th October in Loughborough and our first home matches will be on the 16th December. All fixtures will be triangular fixtures, featuring three teams and each team playing two matches ... that could mean a leg-killing 10 sets of volleyball. We had better get fit now! Added to that, we have just agreed a deal with De Montfort University to play our home matches at Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Leisure Centre, De Montfort Uni, Leicester, LE3 5LX. We hope that our partnership with DMU will continue to grow to help both us and them grow! |
Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|