On Sunday 9 Nov Oxford Eagles travelled to Basingstoke to take on two
teams we'd already played this season: Maidenhead and Basingstoke. With
only six players, the line up was: Karina and Helen as middles, Giulia
and Asia outsides, Stef as
setter and Izzy, out of her usual position of outside, playing opposite.
Overall, there was some great volleyball displayed and a good fighting
spirit amongst the team.
Maidenhead:
As the first match of the morning the Eagles got off to their usual slow start, the scoreboard was pretty much point for point as we were giving away easy hits, not using spaces and giving back free balls. At 13-13 we decided to step it up, using our serve as a good source of attack. Stef set the pace serving strongly on Maidenhead allowing us to take the lead. After this, Asia continued great serving to pull away point by point, with the help of solid defending from Karina and blocking from Helen, we took the lead and didn't let Maidenhead back in the game. Once we switched on, we took the set convincingly 25-15.
As the first match of the morning the Eagles got off to their usual slow start, the scoreboard was pretty much point for point as we were giving away easy hits, not using spaces and giving back free balls. At 13-13 we decided to step it up, using our serve as a good source of attack. Stef set the pace serving strongly on Maidenhead allowing us to take the lead. After this, Asia continued great serving to pull away point by point, with the help of solid defending from Karina and blocking from Helen, we took the lead and didn't let Maidenhead back in the game. Once we switched on, we took the set convincingly 25-15.
The
second set started as much as the first with long rallies and passive
play from the Eagles, as we found our rhythm again we quickly pulled
away. Maidenhead took a time out at 19-13 but it wasn't enough to catch
up and after some great passing and strong serving, we won the set again 25-15.
MVP: Asia
Basingstoke:
Knowing this would be a tougher match, the
Eagles went onto court with high energy and good fighting spirit after
the first win. The first set displayed, in Neil's own words "some of your best and worst volleyball this season". We had some brilliant passes, setting and
hits, and then lost points to basic mistakes. After Basingstoke pulled
ahead at 6-1 the Eagles called a timeout and took some points back
putting more pressure on the opposition, some great setting from Stef
and clever angles at the net helped put points on the board, but it was
too little too late and Basingstoke took the lead 20-15. We couldn't
close the gap and Basingstoke took the set 19-25.
The
second set saw a different Eagles team who started strongly and showed
some brilliant attacking thanks to outsides Asia and Giulia. Supported
by some great defending of big hits from Izzy and Karina, the Eagles
looked comfortable with a seven point lead at 18-11. We went from
strength to strength and convincingly won the set 25-17.
In
the third set Basingstoke put the pressure on with strong serving and
took the lead 8-4. After a timeout, a great run of strong serving from
Stef brought the Eagles back in the game to 10-9. The Eagles continued
to show great commitment to every point, covering blocks, diving for
balls and impressive back court hitting- we were point for point! At
13-14 Basingstoke closed the set with strong a strong middle hit and
they took the set 15-13. A close and disappointing result but a good
game all round and we all had fun :)
MVP: Karina
Written by Izzy
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