| A confident Riga side swept away league
stragglers, Cambridge in three straight sets at the weekend to claim their
3rd Round place in the English Volleyball Association National Knock Out
Cup. |
| Riga, currently placed second in Division 2 to
Tameside, with a game in hand, are again bidding for promotion having lost
out by the finest of margins at the end of last season in a nail biting 5
set play off against Tonbridge. |
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After a shaky start losing to Cleobury, Riga
have since disposed of Loughborough Students, Malmesbury Mavericks, Oxford
and, most significantly league leaders, Tameside, the latter encounter being
a tight 5 setter. Sunday’s match was an opportunity for coach, Tom Young,
to run his bench and try out new signing 24 year old Veronica Garyfollou,
formerly a Greek National League 2 player, brought in as back up setter.
The team has desperately needed a second setter having had to rearrange one
match this season owing to Liz Young being injured. Garyfollou
put in an excellent performance on her debut, coming on for Young towards
the end of the first set, adding a touch of flair to the Riga team with some
impressive jump setting and reverse plays.
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| 6 foot middle hitter, Sarah Pochin, has proved
impressive so far this season, and Sunday’s game showed her at her best with
some blistering hitting. New to the team last season, Sally Keates,
outside hitter, is also finding her feet and caused Cambridge major problems
throughout the match. |
| Setter Young, and libero (back court
specialist), Lynette Purkiss, have put in ‘player of the match’
performances, contributing significantly to Riga’s success so far. Tom
Young has been pleased with the team’s performance so far and the prospect
of acquiring two more players, in addition to Garyfollou, one of which
happens to be a 6 foot, left handed ex-international player from Eastern
Europe, is exciting. This acquisition could take the Riga to another
level, almost guaranteeing promotion for the Warwick team. ‘The squad
are training hard and the determination is evident amongst the players, we
just needed a few more strong players to come in and it looks like we’ve got
them.’ |
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| The team meet Salford this Sunday, again at
Warwick, starting at 2 pm. Salford are one of the stronger teams,
finishing 3rd last season, so it will be a tough encounter. |
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| Liz Young |
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| Team Photograph |