Crawley Redstars vs Worthing Devils
Devils travelled to Crawley in the wind and rain without Trees, Chantelle, Paula or Amy. Gemma and Brinee came along to help make up the numbers although neither of them were at their sparkling best. While Robyn also carrying a knock from her earlier activities. To help make up a squad Katy Begley made her début as an honorary Devil.
With our usual outside players out Sintija played through four in the first set along side the versatile Brinee. Gemma and Agata were the middles and Robyn and Mel were the setter and opposite. The teams traded points throughout the set with the Devils making a number of basic errors putting pressure on themselves. Worthing couldn't quite finish the rallies and Crawley were strong defensively picking up lots of hits. At 22-18 down Devils started to find their feet and with Katy coming on front court making some big hits, it looked like they were going to steal the set fighting back to 24-25 serving for match point, before losing 27-25!
In the second set Brinee and Emma went through four, Katy and Agata through the middle, with Mel and Sintija in their usual positions. Again the set started competitively, but this time the errors were cut out and the noise on court picked up, lead by team motivator and Captain Sintija! With confidence came stronger hitting which slowly meant Worthing built a lead of 5 points which they never looked like relinquishing. Katy playing her first full set made a difference running a number of shorts with Mel that Crawley didn't get near.
The same team started the third set, this time they started strongly from the start with five servers (Brinee, Katy, Sintija, Em and Agata) taking us to a 24 - 4 lead. Although the serving was good the front court players worked hard blocking and hitting with good cover from the back court. Again the team spirit on court was fantastic, with everyone working hard for each other and cheering each other on!
Mel always consistent with the sets carried on setting in the fourth set, spreading the ball and keeping Crawley on their toes. Em at four had to use all her cunning early in the set, following a block from a big hit, which Brinee scrabbled to cover, Em demanded the ball again for a tip which came back and then demanding it again for a roll down the line into a massive hole! From there the team's heads were up and look to finish the game quickly. Agata in front court had a couple of lovely hits deep to one which were very successful and soon Devils had a big lead and finished the set 25 - 12 winners.
Although she wasn't feeling well and was hoping to just support the team Brinee ended up playing the whole game through four. She still managed to produced another MVP performance with great work back court, picking up the free balls, serve receiving well and covering Em's hits as well as her usual big hitting!
A big thank you to the sickies that travelled and the assistant coach for the skittles and driving, especially taking the Captain home, saving her another hour and a half train journey from Worthing home!
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