Game 1 -
Oxford Ladies v Darkstar Derbyshire
We started
the game slowly but steadily, never letting Derbyshire get ahead and gradually pulling
away and extending the lead. At 24-15, the opposition defended 5 set points but
a service error meant we took the set 25-20.
The second
set started similarly but we managed to pull away much sooner and didn’t let
Derbyshire get a service run at the end of the set. We won it 25-16.
What we
had hoped to be the final set started more like the first, we kept a steady
lead but let them catch up with us at 18 all, to quote the Derbyshire setter at
that point: 'It appears we have just woken up!’- this certainly seemed to be
true. They started defending and attacking much more efficiently than they had
in the previous 2 sets and despite fighting back, we finally lost it 26-28.
Despite an
early lead in the 4th set, Derbyshire slowly clawed their way back and some
clever serving on their part right when they needed it meant we were heading
for a decider - we lost this set 21-25.
The
decider - Jon was almost ready to start smoking again at this point and it was
only going to get more tense. We were 8-4 down at the point of changing ends.
At 13-9 down Jon took a timeout and somehow woke up the fighter in each of us.
We went back and got the 2 points we needed to be back in the game. At 13-11
down, Derbyshire’s coach took a timeout, which worked as they went on to 3
match points, leading 14-11. They failed to convert the first one and at 14-12
down, Sonia went to serve 4 of her most evil serves and finally, after almost 2
hours, the most epic game of the season so far was ours. (MVP Federica)
Game 2 -
Darkstar Derbyshire v Birmingham 1
Birmingham
dominated from the beginning but didn’t look as convincing as expected. They
won the first 2 sets to 21 and 22 respectively and lost the 3rd to 18 but
Derbyshire fell completely apart in the 4th and lost it to 12.
Game 3 -
Oxford Ladies v Birmingham 1
We were
refreshed after our break and ready to take on the team that had beaten us 3-0
a couple of months earlier (the only team to do so). It started well, we were
always slightly ahead and pulled further and further away in the second half to
win the set 25-18.
The second
set was a different story, both teams were head to head the whole time, with
neither able to get away right until the very end. Birmingham got to 23 first
but we were only 1 point behind. Sonia’s evil serve came to our rescue at the
crucial time once again when she took the game from 24-24 to 26-24 to us.
Birmingham
forgot how to play volleyball in the third set, in fact it looked similar to
what happened to Derbyshire in the 4th set of the previous game. By match point
time, Birmingham had 8 points so we weren’t quite panicking when their setter
got her own serving run. The winning point was a set by Fede across to 2, which
must have been so confusing they forgot what to do again. Score of the 3rd and
final set: 25-15. (MVP Federica again, well done and well deserved)
Check out
the league table!