New year - Same old Worthing....mammoth 5 setter

It was a disjointed warm up due to Dulwich not being there.  Worthing warmed up as usual not knowing to expect them imminently or if they wouldn't be there at all. Happily they arrived and while all the players were there and on court for the match start time as they weren't in kit and warmed up properly the officials agreed to start the match 20 mins later.  The Worthing team was pretty much the same team that played Dulwich away on the first game of the season (Em, Brinee, Chantelle, Trees, Sintija, Mel and Tracy) with Em and bump sitting this one out and Gem stepping in (thanks Gem and hope Todd didn't miss his feed!) and Tracy being available to play this time rather than being bench personnel. 

Once the match started Worthing came out strong not wanting to give Dulwich a two set lead like last time! Brinee had her serving shoes on or Asic Gel Sensi 5's, as they are otherwise known!  Serving 8 points, mixing her classic power float with a sneaky short to keep the opposition on their toes.  This took Worthing to 11-3 and they never looked liked losing from here.  Gemma got in on the serving action with a nice run of 6 points.  The consistent strong serving from Worthing stopped the middle being opened up by Dulwich and with good first balls in both Mel and Tracy had fun picking their sets and seeing the power hits picking up points. The set finished 25-16.

The second set start the same way, but this time Dulwich rallied early and levelled the scores 6-6 before a spell of strong serving in conjunction with a wobble with Worthing's serve receive saw 6 points dropped in one serve receive 8-16 Dulwich. Chantelle's serving backed by a strong front court of the Farley's gave Worthing a glimmer of hope and when Brinee stuffed blocked a massive hit at 11-16 you could see the spring in Worthing's step was back.  Again the new serving trainers continued to work their magic and Brinee got Worthing 4 points and a little closer 15-17.  Then the cripple stepped up to serve a combination of good serves, and great cover back court from Trees with power hits from Brinee front court and Chantelle mixing clever cuts with rolls into the corner meant that Worthing levelled the scores and then pushed on to take a marginal lead 23-21.  The calm head of Sintija saw the set out with a strong serve into the corner and a shank into the wall meant Worthing won 25-23.

In the third set the teams traded points with either team getting more than two points ahead of the other, both teams stepped up their game and the standard of hitting and cover back court lead to some great rallies.  At 16-18 Dulwich's setter served and with a strong front court they made the points they needed, while Brinee made a great pick up back court covering the tip to four the power hit that followed to five got them the point and the next couple taking Tuskers to 22-16 and in the end the set 25-19.

A strong start from Dulwich/a poor start from Worthing in the fourth again saw the basic communication lapse and the whole team looked nervous on court and not at all like the un-defeated leaders and champions of the five setter that they are!!  For periods they played well with Trees using the angles well and Brinee dominating the net.  Sintija as always made so much noise my throat was sore in sympathy, as well as picking off some big points at stages of the game. Chantelle and Gemma quietly got on with business, covering and blocking well and both Tracy and Mel used the pass in wisely with Tracy picking up points with a cheeky second ball over but in the end Dulwich earnt the set 25-15.

So we entered Worthing's 2014-15 trademark, the lottery of the fifth set!  Dulwich again started well and before Worthing got going it was 2-6 to Dulwich.  At 7-10 down Sintija fires in an ace and on her second serve while the number 2 player tried to avoid it, the ball dipped and caught her full in the face... happily she bounced straight back and was good to carry on! So was Sintija and the next ball went to the same area and brought the score to 11-11 and then it was 13-13! Dulwich won the point and served for the game and a text book pass and set from Brinee and Mel meant all the hard work was done and Trees didn't miss her line putting away a screamer.  Strangely enough the next two sets went her way and so did the final two points! 16-14 Worthing! 

A great result for the first game of the new year and especially as there hasn't been any training for a month or so! A tough first game in a while for Gemma and also for Tracy who's slowly getting back her match fittness after being out for most of the season. It was also good to see Brinee working so hard back court and getting consistent good balls in to the setter and covering the tip to 4!  A massive thank you to the supporters, I don't think we would have got through the fifth set as winners with out you! It was great to see a few of the EG crew as well as Dom, Robyn (their mum) and Katy, along with the regular Latvian's, Farley's and Chantelle's mum and Craig the ever present!

Also a special thanks to Kish, Em, Kathy, Amelia, Nigel and Elise for officiating! 

Devon up next in a couple of weeks!!