Coventry and Warwick Riga Ladies second team travelled to Birmingham (a relatively local fixture!) for the first game of the 2009/10 season. The team played a friendly in Chester the weekend before where they had a good win and were in good spirits for the new season.
The girls had a strong warm up. However, with various people playing out of position and with the absence of Sharon it was always going to be a tough game. The first set really showed that as the team struggled to gel and the girls soon found themsevles 7-1 down. The team fought back hard forcing Birmingham into a time out, but it was too little too late and Birmingham took the set 25-10.
The second start got off to a positive start with some super passing from Jane Kinnis and some impressive serving from Jayne Warman. The girls were level pegging with Birmingham. Excellent hitting through the middle from Miriam Kay saw Riga edge closer to 25. The first pass continued to let the girls down though and made it hard work for Emma to distribute the set. Just at the last minute, Birmingham pulled some lucky moves out of teh hat and just took the set 25-23.
In the third set, Netty's passing and hitting through four spurred the team on with some good back court work from Ginny. Clare returned to her usual side of the court (hurahh!) coming on through opposite. The team fought to close the gap and at 17:17 forced Birmingham into a time out. However, it was a good time out for Birmingham and they followed it with a strong run of serves. Riga pushed on but couldn't quite close the gap as Birmingham took the set and the match 25-21.
MVP - Miriam Kay
Riga now has time to regroup and train hard in advance of its next game which is at home on 27 September. Coach Rodney was pleased with the team's performance and the result which on another day could have gone the other way. However, I think we'll all be practising passing on Tuesday!
Thanks to team photographer, Chris, for the photos below and the updated player profile photos (see the Team Details link!)
