Devils played two local league games in the space of two days Crawley Redstars on Sunday and Dolphins2 on Monday.
First up at home were Crawley, with only Gemma, Paula and Robyn missing. The starting six were Mel setting, Sintija opposite, Brinee and Agata through the middle and Chantelle and Amy through the outside. It was a slow start from Devils with the teams trading points until Mel stepped up to serve, with solid serving and a strong front court line up Devils pulled ahead. Once they had the lead at 15-12 they never looked like giving it up slowly clawing a 6 point lead to win 25-19. Chantelle through the set was stretched back court covering the deep corners and only through some impressive dives reached a couple of the hits, which received cheers from the crowd and delighted the bench who scored her 9.8, 9.6 and 10.00.
Em and Trees stayed on the bench for the second set and the team started much stronger quickly establishing a 15-8 lead with Chantelle serving well and Brinee and Amy looking menacing at the net. A big hit from Sintija closed out the set with a final score of 25-17.
In the third set Em came on to ensure that we didn't drop that classic third set. Unfortunately she hadn't read the script and Devils lost 25-21 when they got stuck on one rotation for 7 points. Agata's traditional "Av' it" moment in each game rescued a point, but even with a late surge from Devils, Crawley kept their heads and closed out the set.
In the fourth set the Devils came out with the same team that started the second set and were looking to close out the game quickly working hard to keep the ball alive. Capitan Sintija was in feisty spirits passing and then swing hitting and cheering the Devils on to greater levels of effort. The team met the challenge and won 25-8.
MVP went to Captain Sintija who had a great game leading the team and hitting well.
Monday evening Devils travelled to Dolpins2 missing Trees, Em, Paula and Gemma. Robyn was back after going up to Kettering to coach the under 16 Ashcombe girls in the National Cup. Sintija lost the toss (again) but leading by example forced the girls to warm up properly, to a chorus of moans and the rustle of crisp packets being put away.
Devils started the same as the Crawley game, but with Robyn setting. The team begin well with consistent serves and first balls in, allowing Robyn to spread the ball and attack from all positions. This in turn meant Devils sided out first time in nearly every rotation. Sabrina dominated the net while Amy worked hard covering back court showing Chantelle how you should dive for a ball. There were a couple of simple serving errors, but apart from that it was a really positive first set. The coach even had to change his standard first time out team talk.
For the second set Mel came on for Robyn, but the rest of the team stayed the same and everyone upped their game cutting out the serve errors. Agata set the target of serving for six consecutive points and Brinee feeling that her title as serving king pin was on the line then went on to double it and serve for twelve points with numerous aces through a mix of power serves and sneaky short serves keeping Dolphins guessing. As a reward she came off for Robyn once she had finished serving, Robyn though failed to touch the ball for the rest of the game! The highlight of the set was Agata pulling out another of her Ronaldo-esq kicks to win a point, admittedly she had served and been a smidge slow getting in to cover the block, it was still a great kick that had the scorers admitting they would have been proud to have pulled it off!
The same six started the third set and carried on with the same style of attacking volleyball. Mel again set consistently and even got in on the action with a cheeky second ball over and a nice hit. Sintija kept the teams energy high always supporting the other team members and enjoying her big hits. Amy, Chantelle and Agata all had strong games communicating well, covering a lot of court and picking up points front court. Brinee came up to serve at 14-10 knowing that she couldn't get another 12 serves in a row(with only 11 needed to get to 25), but still managed to finish the game 25-10. With Robyn coming on for Chantelle front court and keen to get at least one more touch Mel set her for the last point of the game, which she put away for a clean winner.
This means Worthing Devils retain the Sussex Volleyball Association Ladies Div 1 title this year, but could be challenged next year by a number of teams with both Brighton and East Grinstead giving them tough games in the last couple of weeks and Dolphins1 still to go.
That meant everyone could get home at a reasonable hour for training tomorrow night.....except Agata, Sintija and Dan might still be on the road somewhere, they were last seen heading towards Dartford about an hour later!
MVP went to Mel after a great performance setting up the attacks and defending the first ball well back court.
Brighton Teela are the penultimate game of the season this Sunday 15th March, 20:00 at the High School. Supports as always welcome!
First up at home were Crawley, with only Gemma, Paula and Robyn missing. The starting six were Mel setting, Sintija opposite, Brinee and Agata through the middle and Chantelle and Amy through the outside. It was a slow start from Devils with the teams trading points until Mel stepped up to serve, with solid serving and a strong front court line up Devils pulled ahead. Once they had the lead at 15-12 they never looked like giving it up slowly clawing a 6 point lead to win 25-19. Chantelle through the set was stretched back court covering the deep corners and only through some impressive dives reached a couple of the hits, which received cheers from the crowd and delighted the bench who scored her 9.8, 9.6 and 10.00.
Em and Trees stayed on the bench for the second set and the team started much stronger quickly establishing a 15-8 lead with Chantelle serving well and Brinee and Amy looking menacing at the net. A big hit from Sintija closed out the set with a final score of 25-17.
In the third set Em came on to ensure that we didn't drop that classic third set. Unfortunately she hadn't read the script and Devils lost 25-21 when they got stuck on one rotation for 7 points. Agata's traditional "Av' it" moment in each game rescued a point, but even with a late surge from Devils, Crawley kept their heads and closed out the set.
In the fourth set the Devils came out with the same team that started the second set and were looking to close out the game quickly working hard to keep the ball alive. Capitan Sintija was in feisty spirits passing and then swing hitting and cheering the Devils on to greater levels of effort. The team met the challenge and won 25-8.
MVP went to Captain Sintija who had a great game leading the team and hitting well.
Monday evening Devils travelled to Dolpins2 missing Trees, Em, Paula and Gemma. Robyn was back after going up to Kettering to coach the under 16 Ashcombe girls in the National Cup. Sintija lost the toss (again) but leading by example forced the girls to warm up properly, to a chorus of moans and the rustle of crisp packets being put away.
Devils started the same as the Crawley game, but with Robyn setting. The team begin well with consistent serves and first balls in, allowing Robyn to spread the ball and attack from all positions. This in turn meant Devils sided out first time in nearly every rotation. Sabrina dominated the net while Amy worked hard covering back court showing Chantelle how you should dive for a ball. There were a couple of simple serving errors, but apart from that it was a really positive first set. The coach even had to change his standard first time out team talk.
For the second set Mel came on for Robyn, but the rest of the team stayed the same and everyone upped their game cutting out the serve errors. Agata set the target of serving for six consecutive points and Brinee feeling that her title as serving king pin was on the line then went on to double it and serve for twelve points with numerous aces through a mix of power serves and sneaky short serves keeping Dolphins guessing. As a reward she came off for Robyn once she had finished serving, Robyn though failed to touch the ball for the rest of the game! The highlight of the set was Agata pulling out another of her Ronaldo-esq kicks to win a point, admittedly she had served and been a smidge slow getting in to cover the block, it was still a great kick that had the scorers admitting they would have been proud to have pulled it off!
The same six started the third set and carried on with the same style of attacking volleyball. Mel again set consistently and even got in on the action with a cheeky second ball over and a nice hit. Sintija kept the teams energy high always supporting the other team members and enjoying her big hits. Amy, Chantelle and Agata all had strong games communicating well, covering a lot of court and picking up points front court. Brinee came up to serve at 14-10 knowing that she couldn't get another 12 serves in a row(with only 11 needed to get to 25), but still managed to finish the game 25-10. With Robyn coming on for Chantelle front court and keen to get at least one more touch Mel set her for the last point of the game, which she put away for a clean winner.
This means Worthing Devils retain the Sussex Volleyball Association Ladies Div 1 title this year, but could be challenged next year by a number of teams with both Brighton and East Grinstead giving them tough games in the last couple of weeks and Dolphins1 still to go.
That meant everyone could get home at a reasonable hour for training tomorrow night.....except Agata, Sintija and Dan might still be on the road somewhere, they were last seen heading towards Dartford about an hour later!
MVP went to Mel after a great performance setting up the attacks and defending the first ball well back court.
Brighton Teela are the penultimate game of the season this Sunday 15th March, 20:00 at the High School. Supports as always welcome!
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