Tracey's daughter (Sian, age 6) Riga's biggest fan and and budding journalist wrote a brilliant match report from the sidelines as the action unfolded. Full report from Alex below.

See photos on Jon McGugan's site http://www.mcgugan.co.uk/volleyball or see below.

Riga went to London this weekend to play Malory.  Malory are a perennial force in the sport with both their men's and women's teams winning the National League Division 1 for the last 3 years.  Riga Ladies had never beaten Malory going into the weekend's tie, but felt confident after such an excellent start to the season.

Riga started strongly, lead by strong blocking by Alex Smith and excellent hitting from Celine Haederli and Julia Werdich.  Malory fought hard and pushed Riga to the wire.  Eventually Riga focussed to take the final points and claimed the set 25-23. 

Malory came out fighting in the second set and served incredibly well causing problems for Riga's passing unit.  Malory had taken a 7-1 lead when coaches Tom Young and Chris Anderson called a time-out to settle the Riga girls down.  It was just what the team needed and they soon levelled the score to 8-8.  Riga continued to play excellently led by setter Lisa Purcell and middle blockers Michele Peryer and Juliane Laetsch.  Riga stormed through to take the set comfortably 25-18.

Malory again upped their game led by strong hitting from Magdalena Rybicki and the third and fourth sets were both incredibly tight.  Excellent defence from both teams, Riga's led by Julie Bromell meant that there were some incredible rallies, but Malory pipped both sets 25-23.

Going into a fifth set, Riga presented a very professional manner erasing all previous mistakes and getting on with the game.  Werdich hitting well and she and Bromell getting some good pick ups.  The teams changed ends with Riga just in the lead at 8-7 and the crowd was enjoying a close match.  In the next rally, Malory hit 3 incredible kills, but Smith was in the right place and picked them up, leading to Haederli eventually killing the point.  Malory, having thrown everything into the rally looked deflated and gave up a few quick points to strong serves from Peryer.  Purcell found Laetsch to kill a few more points and Riga cruised to take the set 15-9 and a well deserved victory over Malory.

Riga next host London Polonia on Saturday 1st December at Alan Higgs Centre in Coventry at 4pm.  It will be a very close match but a victory would place Riga at the top of the table.  Admission is free and any support would be greatly appreciated.  Come along to cheer for your local team!