National Shield - Round 1
Sunday 10th November Tamworth Spartans 1 Leicester Athena 3 (21-25, 18-25, 25-14, 9-25) Coming off the back of a morning training session, Leicester Athena travelled to Tamworth to meet Tamworth Spartans – a team that they played against in Division 3 last season. Going to the game with nearly a full squad, apart from 2 of our opposite players and 1 of our middles, was the most amount of players who had attended a game so far this season! Athena's slow start strike again The first set started with: Sarah setting, Saffron opposite, Kristy and Amy as outside players, Alexandra and Karolina in the middle, and both Algi and Michelle as liberos – the first time we have ever played with 2 liberos in the same game! Prior to the match, Coach Gordon advised us not to let Tamworth get several points ahead at the beginning of the first set which has always seemed to be the “Athena Curse”. So what did we do? We, of course, let them get 5 points ahead… However, we then started to get into the set properly and just after the first technical timeout, Karolina came round to serve and scored a whopping 8 points to take us to the next technical timeout! That spurred us on even further and with some great first passes from the passing unit, we were able to steam ahead to a 25-21 win. Back coverage ensures the second set The 2nd set started the same as the first. We tried to not do the same mistake twice, but Tamworth’s #9 (and match MVP) served some very tough serves which got themselves to a 5-0 lead. When the first technical timeout came around, we were 8-4 down. However, we managed to turn it around once again and with some kill shots coming from all hitting options, and some great back court covering from both Algi and Michelle, a Tamworth timeout was called at 12-14 and 18-23 but this didn’t stop us and we finished the last 2 points and won 25-18. Tamworth work their way back into the tie In the 3rd set, Coach Gordon made a few changes to the starting line-up. Paulina came on as setter, and Petra came on for Kristy as an outside hitter. This meant that newcomer to the team, Amy, was given the role of being on court captain. This time, we didn’t let them start with a large lead and were neck and neck with them when it came to the first technical timeout. However, some lack of communication from our side, and good play from Tamworth, meant the opposition strode ahead to a 16-8 lead. This lead was hard to shake and shook the confidence of our team and despite fighting back, Tamworth worked their way to a 25-14 victory. Athena clinch victory Coach Gordon changed the starting rotation once again and put it back to the starting rotation from the 1st and 2nd set, meaning Sarah and Kristy were once again on court. Fuelled by motivation after losing the last set, Kristy led us to a 14-3 lead! The team were once again back to their winning ways, and were able to deplete the confidence of the Tamworth team. This didn’t stop us as we wanted to finish the set strong, so with some great pickups from the passing unit and cracking line hits from both Saffron and Amy, this meant that the team strode towards a win. Captain Sarah finished the set by serving the last 5 points and Athena were guaranteed to go through to the next round of the National Shield competition by winning the set 25-9. Athena NVL now face Birmingham Volleyball Club on the 1st December in the next round of the Shield. This now guarantees that they have a game every weekend from now until the season finishes for Christmas. It will be a busy time, so stay tuned to see what’s next!
1 Comment
Charlie
13/11/2019 04:23:28 pm
Totally awesome match report ladies!
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