Jets lose to Eastbourne Away.

A depleted squad travelled away to Eastbourne with Andy stepping in to set with Iain opposite, Matt and Josh through the middle and Luis and Dan through the outside.

It was always going to be a struggle against a very strong Eastbourne team, but the Jets played well during the first set trying out a new serve receive. The Jets lost 3-0, but it was a much brighter performance with some encouraging signs and we look forward to the next match away against Horsham.

Vipers Win Away At Horsham1

Vipers travelled away to Horsham for a Sunday afternoon match and the starting six saw Andy setter, Damo opposite, Mickey and Jimmy through the outside and Andrew and Mark through the middle. With both usual libero's unavailable Dan stepped up from the Jets for his Vipers debut!

Vipers started strongly and set the tone for any easy afternoons volleyball taking the first set to only seven. The second set followed the same pattern and saw Dom adding some height to the front court for a while. The final set included a few more "fireworks" before Mark turned his ankle and was replaced by Matt, but the Vipers closed out another set.

Dan enjoyed his first match for the Vipers and must have set some kind of record by not managing to actually touch the ball the entire match! Mind you he managed to stay for the length of the match which is more than can be said for the Horsham Libero!

Demon's Match Report

Demons Vs Eastbourne; the home game...

Away at St.Moira’s...a turbulent Wednesday evening..

There was no way the demons were going to suffer another deflated defeat at the hands of an equally matched team...

The rain had poured, the cakes had been baked ( cheers Katy; hope you liked the photo??), trainers donned, sweatshirts doffed, war paint on, legs waxed, and vocal cords warmed up, and Mickey; back at the helm!!

First set; a tightly fought one, bringing a very close end. Definitely one not to be sniffed at. Good effort all round. , Eastbourne 1

Second set; big blocks (*) whoop ass hits and general Demon spirit to the end; Worthing 1

Third set; Cleo fired serves like flicking crumbs of the table; and apart from a gassy exchange, was in Tazmanian demon mode as she fired across court to set the team no end of balls! Unfortunately eastbourse just got the upper hand..

Never fear. Beaten this time, but the fire was burning bright, and everyone played well. The rematch will be awesome!!

Devils beat Valkyries....just!

Worthing Devils travelled to Eastbourne to play Valkyries without Trees, Chantelle and Gemma.  The starting team were Mel and Sintija (setter and opposite), Emma and Agata (middle), Amy and Sabrina (through four) with Robyn on the bench.

Devils started off looking nervous and were quiet on court, but slowly started to edge ahead in the first set helped by some strong serving from Mel when the score was even with two ace’s in a run of 6 serves.  Captain and MVP Sintija was defending well and making some big hits to lead the Devils to a close 25-21 win.

In the second set Eastbourne fought back with some strong serving and hitting, while the Devils struggled to get a good first ball into the setter limiting our attacking options.  Amy and Sabrina both played well front court with consistent hitting and had some early success hitting line, but in the end Eastbourne won 26-24.

Robyn came on in the third set and instantly started making a lot of noise on court, which helped lift the team along with her commitment to chase down the second ball (with a nice dive for thecameras!).   Em and Agata made a couple of blocks and Devils won the third set 25-21 before Eastbourne again came back to win the fourth set 25-19.

In the fifth set Emma lapping up the pressure put on her serving shoes(finally) and with the crowd (Thanks’ Sintija’s friends, Trees and Paula) cheering wildly served 8 points with 3 aces. Suddenly the Devils started playing with a bit of confidence and with big hitting from Sabrina and Sintija on any loose balls, Devils won the fifth 15-8.  Finally a visit to Market Dinner after a win, even if we didn’t get there until after 11!

Devils beat East Grindstead2

Devils were back in East Grinstead for the second Monday evening in a row.  This week against their second team.  We had Mel back on setting duties, but Trees, Sabrina and Agata were bunking off.  Sintija was captain, but couldn't maintain Trees' run of 7 correct calls on the trot.

The first couple of points went to EG but once Devils got the serve Amy stepped up and took us to 14 - 2 with some accurate fast serving.  The communication on court improved as the set went on and with good first balls in Mel was using all her attacking options. Gemma was running the middle well and Em was covering a lot of space back court.  The set finished 25 - 14.

The second set started well Em pulled off a text book pancake unfortunately the rest of the team had given up on that point!  Amy again was our most consistent server, with two runs of five points, but she was also covering the tip well and getting good balls into Mel.  Chantelle was hitting well with hits down the line and cross court and the team had a 100% side out rate in this set, winning 25 - 8.

All was looking good in the third for a comfortable 3-0 at 11-6 but Devils relaxed a little too much and EG rallied.  Mel though organised and motivated the Devils, along with putting in a couple of great passes when forced into the serve receive helping Devils hold their nerve at 23 - 23.  Gemma kept cool and served into the hole and deep down the line to win the game 25 - 23 and secure the first 3 - 0 victory for the Devils this season.  Let's hope we have a few more now!

Robyn took advantage of playing through opposite and four and maybe next time will get her wish to play through the middle.

Amy deservingly was awarded MVP.

Results round Up

Finally recovered from a bad cold and busy work schedule, so time to catch up on some men's results!

Vipers lost 3-2 to Arun in a very close and competitive match. Vipers started well to take the first set, but Arun responded well to take the next 2 sets. Vipers pulled it back to 2-2 and turned round 8-7 up in the final set before Arun finished strongly to take the match. The game was played in a great and very competitive spirit could have gone either and was well officiated by Freda and Colin. With news of Brighton beating Adur and Eastbourne also unbeaten so far this season it is shaping up for another very close season!

Jets lost 3-0 to Hastings when Turbo made his setting debut as Martin was unavailable. A slightly better performance than the defeat against Crawley, but they struggled to cope with the two strong hasting's outside hitters.

A much better performance from the Jets against Vipers despite losing 3-0. With strong and very vocal support from the side lines the Jets pushed Vipers all the way in the first set. A poor second set from the Jets was followed by a rally in the third set where they again scored more than 20 points. MVP went to Matt Lay and Andrew Crockett.

Devils beat East Grinstead 3-1

Worthing travelled to East Grinstead1 who've picked up some good players in the off season and are a well organised team with powerful serves.  Devils had a full squad except for Mel which meant Robyn was setting throughout the match.

The team that played in the NL started, but were slow back court and weren't looking for the gaps when hitting.  They still had enough to win the set 25-23

Devils started the second set with the same team except Gemma came on for Sabrina.   Again they struggled back court, but Gemma played well especially front court when she put in some strong blocks.  However Devils just lost by 2 points.

It took till the third set before Devils found the motivation to start playing.  Tree's made some great pick ups (diving practice paying off) and was hitting intelligently mixing the power hits with rolls and tips into the gaps keeping EG unsure what to expect.  She was supported by Sintija and Chantelle who started hitting the lines and the holes in the defence.  Agata in only her second match back also started strongly covering well back court and putting EG under pressure with a good block.

In the fourth set Em and Robyn were linking up well running the short and Em clearly had the taste for it as she started killing lose first ball's over from back court "'ave it!".  Robyn won a joust at the net against a tall middle.  I'm not sure who was more surprised us or MVP Robyn.

Worthing vs The City of Bristol and Team Southampton

Match day two for Worthing Volleyball Club in the National League saw a depleted squad travel to Southampton, to play City of Bristol and Southampton Volleyball club.  Amy, Gemma and Agata were missing leaving Trees, Em, Sabrina, Chantelle and Sintija to man up and play all of both games with Robyn and Mel sharing the setting.  Luckily Em insisted on leaving 3 hours before the warm up as Sintija sent them on a long scenic tour of Southampton twice!

Up first were City of Bristol, Worthing started brightly with good movement back court and a nice first ball in.  Giving Robyn the option to use Sintija through opposite and open up the middle for some big hits from Em and Sabrina.  They closed the first set as comfortable winners 25-10.

Set two saw Mel come on for Robyn.  Bristol started better and were very effective recycling the ball and keeping the rally alive.  Worthing though had taken their foot off the gas making a number of serving errors and a bad first ball in was dragging Mel all over the court.  Em's serving and leadership helped pull it back to 17-17 but again Bristol edged ahead and even a tasty stuff block by Sintija couldn't turn the momentum back in Worthing's favour.

The final two sets saw Worthing win 25-12 and 25-13 with strong serving and hitting all round.  It must have been a tough call to pick an MVP but Sintija was the chosen one.

Who said Brinee couldn't jump?!

A.C.E 

BOOM!

The roof is on FIRE!

Southampton laid on a good lunch with the pizza disappearing fast and nice cupcakes (although not as tasty as the ginger cake from last week). Game two saw Worthing take on Southampton who had beaten Bristol 3-0 in the middle match.

A tight first set saw us trading points early on with Southampton slowly edging in front to be leading 22 - 17 when Chantelle stepped up to serve the game out 22 - 25.

More impressive serving this time from Sabrina gave WVC a strong start and they were leading 8 - 2 after her serve run of 6 points mixing her powerful float with a cheeky short serve.  Sintija and Em helped Brinee out with some big blocks and intelligent hitting front court and the cry of "the roof is on fire" was ringing throughout the hall accompanied by Craig setting the beat on his makeshift drum!  They ended the set 25-13 winners.

The final set had Worthing starting slowly giving control of the set to Southampton, but good back court positioning and Robyn making a game changing pick up that Southampton were already celebrating changed the momentum of the game and Worthing close out the game 3-0 winners.  Consistent hitting along with good movement back court meant Trees took the second MVP of the day.

Thanks to the travelling supporters including Em's folks and Chantelle, Caz and Craig, Mark and Zack and our team statistician Damo.  

Jets Struggle Away At Crawley

Jets lost 3 - 1 away against Crawley despite leading in all 4 sets.  The Jets started well enough with some great blocking from Josh, but after an extended delay while the score sheet was "sorted out" they struggled to find any kind of form. With slow back court coverage and too many basic errors we struggled all evening. Time to put a poor performance behind us and focus on Sunday's match against Hastings when the coach expects to see a positive reaction from his players!