NL Division 3E, 15th December 2002
Ashcombe Dorking II 3 Warwick Riga II 1 (25-11 25-18 21-25 25-15)
Warwick Riga II 3 Chiltern Ladies 2 (25-27 19-25 25-20 27-25
16-14)
Riga Ladies 2nd team travelled to Ashcombe on Sunday for two crunch games against Chiltern Ladies and Ashcombe. The team are aiming for a place in the play off finals and we knew that both these games would be critical, in terms of determining where we would finish-and therefore who we would draw in the finals. However , the Riga squad has been depleted by player absences ,ankle injuries to off setter Ruthie and Sarah's longstanding injury refusing to heal so we knew that a tough day awaited us down in Surrey.
First up for Riga was Ashcombe, also riding high in division 3 and looking to secure a play off place. Not much that can be said about this game-a poor performance resulted in a 3-1 defeat for the Riga team.
So, next up was Chiltern ladies and we knew this would be a hard game as Chiltern took us to 5 sets earlier in the season. However, Riga got off to a dreadful start, losing the first set 27 -25 and then chaos reigned in set 2 as Riga were unable to cope with several players playing in different positions. We slumped to 25 -17 set loss due to our own inability to organise ourselves. Tough talking followed at the start of the 3rd set and we reverted to everyone playing in their normal positions. Our standard of play increased, with setters Clare and Ginny finding their range and hitters Penny, Jayne, Steph and Emma finding the Chiltern gaps with some cracking hits. Jane Kinnis was providing extra support as off setter and the team took the 3rd set 25-20.
Set 4 commenced with Chiltern raising their game and we matched them point for point. However, a loss of concentration for the Riga team towards the end of the set saw Riga Ladies staring defeat in the face at 24-21 down. Rob called a crucial timeout to focus the team, and it was left to Jayne Warman to serve out the pressure points. Great Riga play saw us reach 25-24 and then we took the set 26-24-or so we thought...
The first referee called Chiltern for a net touch so Riga had won the set 26-24. We were all off court celebrating , when the 2nd referee intervened and the 1st referee overturned his decision so that took us back to 25-24. Ginny had to serve for the pressure point again and we absolutely slammed the ball back on the Chiltern side to clinch the set for the 2nd time.
Onto a deciding 5th set and it was terrific Riga play that saw us race to an 11 -6 lead. The defence was brilliant with everyone contributing to some fantastic pick ups-and the hitting and dumping wasn't too bad either !! However , Chiltern fought back and Riga found themselves at 14-all and just not able to finish off the crucial points. Once again , it was left to Ginny to serve for the match and we took the next 2 points, and the set 16-14. This was easily our toughest game of the season and the team had to dig really deep to secure the win - it was especially rewarding to save the 4 match points in the 4th set-all those pressure serving drills clearly paying dividends.
So a very close match but the win was crucial in securing our place in the April play offs-we now need to aim to finish as high as possible to get the best draw in the play offs. League leaders Brentwood also lost at the weekend to East Hants and Ashcombe also lost to Chiltern so there could still be some twists in this league that will effect the final placings. Our next cup game in Sunday Jan 12th, away to Swiss Cottage in North London and their our final league game in on Feb 23rd, at home at St .Nicks where we host Ashcombe and UEA
Sarah Halling