This weekend Riga hosted Polonia, a team who last week defeated Wolverhampton (the only team Riga have lost to this season) and who are also vying for the top spot this year.  Riga entered this crucial match with a reduced squad as Anna Meister couldn't get off work, Tracy Whitley and Fan Gueguen are still injured and Michele Peryer strained her calf in the warm up. So it was left up to the remaining 7 to get the job done and not get hurt, as there was no one left on the bench to substitute on!

In the first set the nervousness and tension was clearly tangible especially on the Riga side which resulted in many smaller but yet point-costing mistakes.  Polonia served strongly and played very diverse volleyball led by their excellent setter B. Kurucova and took an early lead forcing Riga coaches Tom Young and Chris Anderson to call their first time-out 10-13 down.  However it did not help and Polonia pulled away more and more, due to powerful serving by middle player S. Livka, and powerful hitting. Eventually, at 13:22, Riga was able to side-out. Strong serving by Alex Smith and an effective defense led by Julie Bromwell and Celine Haederli got Riga back up to 17:22. However Polonia were too far ahead and were able to finish the set comfortably at 19:25.

In sets 2 and 3 the initial nervousness was gone. Riga upped their game in all perspectives, more service pressure, solid blocking from middle players Juliane Laetsch and Sophie Louen, fantastic hitting from Julia Werdich and Celine Haederli and through Lisa Purcell opening up the use of back-court attacks.  The team was also able to remain its good defense throughout the sets, this led to a balanced and very exiting game with both teams playing now a very high level of Volleyball.

Both teams' good serves still weren't good enough for the defense, demanding great skill from both teams. Therefore no team could get away with many points at once. Yet Riga was able to stay calm at the crucial moments and took both sets 25:23.

In the fourth set it became obvious right from the start that Polonia's shell had cracked. Riga was able to start very strong, leading with 4:0, due to great serves by Lisa Purcell and solid blocking of all Polonia's attacks. After this good start, Riga never really allowed Polonia to start a comeback and was able to force their game on the rivals, who didn't have anything to oppose Riga's game.

Riga pulled ahead and led with 24:12. Riga relaxed a little too soon, but was able to finish the set at 25:18 and manage yet another great victory against a long-standing rival.

MVP: Sophie Louen

Photos below courtesy of Jon McGugan. A full set can be viewed on Jon's website (www.mcgugan.co.uk/volleyball).