(08/09/2002)
The women's first team hosted their inaugural preseason
tournament at St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre on Sunday 8th September. The
tournament was very well supported with some of the strongest teams in the
second division taking part - Cleobury, Salford, Wolverhampton and Loughborough.
Newcomers Oxford welcomed the opportunity to test themselves at the higher
level.
The tournament was on a round robin basis which meant a gruelling schedule of
five matches of 2 sets in 6 hours. There was no rest for the wicked in-between
games as officiating duties had to be honoured. Zano and Ray showed their
stamina enduring over 6 hours of referring which was greatly appreciated by all.
Loughborough were clear winners, but given 50% of players were from their 1st
division team, this wasn't surprising. However matches against them were
fiercely contested, Riga's result being 23 and 18 and Oxford even managed to
snatch a set 27 - 26, the only team to do so.
Riga were pleased with their second place, defeating Cleobury convincingly in
preparation for their first league match away to the Shropshire based club,
beating Wolverhampton and Oxford and losing by 1 point to Salford. Coach Tom
Young said 'It was a really valuable run out today. I was able to experiment
with different playing positions and identify things we need to work on in the
next few weeks. The performance against Loughborough was the best of the day,
but psychologically it was good to get one up on Cleobury.'
There wasn't a lot to choose between the teams which indicates once again a
tightly contested season lies ahead.
The feedback from all the teams about the day was very positive and many joined
us at the Bowling Green afterwards for some much needed refreshment!!
Liz Young