East Midlands Volleyball League
Wednesday 16th January 2019 Leicester Athena 1 Ashfield Vipers 3 An injury to Ioana, Athena's setter, midway through the second set really disrupted things in this regional league match against Ashfield Vipers 2. With a big squad to choose from Coach Paul selected Ioana to set, Julia opposite, Emma and Marta middle and Edyta and Erin as outside - it was an inexperienced line-up but he wanted to see them put Sunday's training into practice. Vipers start strong winning the first 2 sets The first set started nervily with both sides making mistakes but Vipers 2 settled and Athena struggled to keep pace. The team battled hard and their defensive cover was very good, but they could not create enough telling attacks against a very organised Vipers 2 back court. Vipers 2 won the first set 25-17. With a big squad to choose from, Paul changed the team for the second, Kamila and Sam coming into play through the middle and Algi replacing Erin. With a more experienced line-up, Athena kept Vipers 2 on a very short leash with neither team able to create a substantial lead. That changed with the score at 12:11 when Ioana and Algi clashed going to a tipped ball and Ioana sprained her thumb. Bravely, Marta volunteered to step in and play as setter. But the injury clearly disrupted Athena's flow and Vipers 2 put on 14 points to Athena's 5. They won the second set 25-16. Athena fight back Edyta came on to set and did an amazing job considering that she has not set for many, many years. Ioana provided great support and direction from the bench and Julia was directing things on court. Teo played as outside instead of Edyta and Marta came back on for Kamila. Everyone lifted their game to help out Edyta and Athena took the lead right from the start of the set and did not let that lead go. Although Vipers did pull level towards the end, Athena won a thrilling third set 25-23. Emma replaced Marta through the muddle for the fourth set but the fightback hit the buffers as Athena's service receive disintegrated. Vipers 2 launched themselves into a 9-0 lead and Athena's confidence sunk through the floor and they only just made it to double figures as Vipers won the final set 25-10. It was a disappointing end to the match. There were elements of good play and excellent coverage, but the lack of a consistent block and the lack of training time showed in the performance. Coach Paul held his hands up and said "I made a few changes throughout the match as I wanted to give players court time, but it ended up affecting our fluency and rhythm" Well done to Julia for being nominated MVP ... again!
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