Portsmouth proved to be awkward and unorthodox, exactly what Riga doesn't like! Some dubious refereeing decisions only served to unsettle Riga even more as they struggled to find their rhythm. Lynette played up as libero in place of Julie, who was on holiday in Canada, and gave a solid performance (considering she hasn't trained with the team). The home side was back on its heels as ball after ball hit the floor. In contrast Portsmouth seemed to retrieve everything apart from the odd missile courtesy of Yaprak. A tactical time out, spurred Riga on to close the gap but it was too little too late and Portsmouth closed out the set to 21.
Lynette : Division 1 debut
It was a different Riga in the second set as things started to come together. The defence settled down and the ball in found Lisa with regularity enabling the hitters to make an impact. Kelly Jones added several points to the tally with some penetrative attacks, backed up by intelligent play from Nicky in the middle. Dawn Woolmer had a stormer of a game on the serving front and put in a determined performance at the net. Riga levelled the match by a comfortable margin of 25 - 20.
But Portsmouth retaliated in the third set. A series of unforced errors by the home side resulted in a margin that Riga simply couldn't close. Portsmouth's tall middle hitter caused all sorts of problems with some blistering attacks taking full advantage of the non-existent Riga block. Coupled with that bad setting options and uncontrolled hitting handed Portsmouth the set to 21
Dawn : Stormer of a game
The final set was neck and neck all the way. The contrast in play was significant with Riga's powerful hitters attacking every ball and Portsmouth trying to tip and place as much as possible. At change of ends Riga were 8 - 9 down. Again Yaprak proved unstoppable out at 4 as Lisa continually used her strongest option. Nicky kept the Portsmouth defence guessing with some fast runs through the middle and the Riga defence picked up everything. The final point was finished off in style by Yaprak and Riga celebrated their 4th win of the season!