Monday, November 11, 2013

Oxford Globe Trotters win their first ever home games

Oxford Globe Trotters had their first home match ever. The squad for the day were Jon, Asia, Annika, Stef, Gabi, Martijn and Neil.


First game against Spikeos 3
In the first game, the coach (Neil) went mad and sent the team out to play each position where everyone sets. It didn't look good and, stuck with it for a full rotation, the team witnessed three of the worst passes ever seen (Jon has been promised that we wouldn't mention his name... oops). Spikeos called a time-out at 8-13 down and we changed the system back to normal, where Jon was setting Asia opposite, Stef and Annika outside and Martijn and Gabi middle. Now the passes started going nicely into Jon and all hitters started firing, so we could go on to win the set 25-12.
In the next set, Neil came on to set and, apart from his comical double touch, the set went the same way. Some good hits from front and back court and we won the set 25-17. MVP: Asia.
Second game against Newbury
In the next game against Newbury, Jon came back to set and Neil went into the middle with Gabi sitting off. The whole team passed the ball well, giving Jon many options. Once again, everyone hit well, so there's not much to report other than that Gabi came on for Martijn in the second set and there was a good team effort overall. MVP: Asia.
Written by Neil

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Good start to the new season for Eagles

On 3 November Oxford Eagles (Helen, Izzy, Amra, Hanna, Asia and Stefanie) travelled to Newbury to play against Farnborough Sirens and Newbury Ladies.

First game: Farnborough v Eagles
After a strong start with good passing and hitting, we we won the first set easily, 25:9. In the second set, Farnborough came back stronger and we struggled to find our rhythm. We took the lead eventually and also won the second set 25:22 (MVP: Asia).

Second game: Newbury v Eagles
A determined Oxford team came on court for the second game and, with some strong hitting and blocking, we won the first set 25:21. We began to struggle again in the second set and lost by 15:25. But in the deciding tiebreak, we found our rhythm again. With great blocking, passing and hitting, we were on our way to win the third set (score 13:4). But our game grounded to a halt when two strong Newbury servers managed to score 11 points in a row. We fought hard for every single point and finally won the last set by 17:15 (MVP: Izzy).

Written by Stefanie