Blocks, Shocks and Automobiles
When half the ladies second team had a phone call from the coach saying he had broken down they knew they were in for an eventful day!
Netty doubled back to pick up the stranded players and we finally arrived in Cardiff and stepped straight onto court. The lack of a warm-up seemed to help as Riga dominated the first set to win 25-12. The came down to earth in the second set, loosing 18-25 before rallying again to win the third set 25-12.
Penny reverting back to outside hitter and Jane K to playing off setter was working well with the defence consistently picking up and covering the hits. Aggressive hitting from Jayne, serving from Ellie along with cameo appearance from Katcha and Clare in control running the offence meant everything was going smoothly.
But we are a Riga team and inevitably there had to be more drama However, this time it was Cardiff who lead the way. The Cardiff coach had been consistently sniping at the referee throughout the match, but a 22-23 down in the fourth set, he surpassed himself.
Cardiff won the point to make the score 23-23 but the coach chose that moment to launch yet another tirade at the referee. The referee’s patience had finally been tested too far and out came the yellow card giving the point and serve to Riga.
The captain leapt to the defence of the coach and continued arguing refusing to continue playing. The result – a second yellow card and another point to Riga. So Riga claimed the last two points to win the set 25-23 and the match 3:1 without having to touch the ball.
The second match against Cardiff Tigers came around all too quickly and again Riga lacked in warm up, deciding food was more important!
The teams started by trading points before Cardiff pulled away with a run of powerful serves. A determined Riga fought back strongly, but Cardiff finally closed out the set 25-18.
Riga had all to play for in the second set and the right back continued lead by some aggressive attacks by Anna. A strong Riga passing unit of Netty, Jayne and Ellie allowed Ginny to use all attacking options and Cardiff didn’t know where the next attack was coming from. Riga took the set 25-19.
A more determined Cardiff Tigers continued to cause problems with their serving and this combined with a good line attack saw them win the set 25-19.
Cardiff Tigers wanted to finish the game in 4 sets but a tiring Riga rallied on. A change in defence tactics saw the closest set yet. It went all the way to 24-24 when stand-in coach Chris Jones called a tense time out so Riga could catch their breath and thoughts. It was Ginny to serve and serve well she did as the team too the set 26-24.
Once again Riga found themselves in a five set thriller. After a tense start Riga pulled it back and the teams changed ends with Riga just 8-7 down. Riga continued to fight and the scores were all equal at 11-11. Cardiff’s setter was next to serve and proved she was their strongest server by repeating her effort from the first set to close out the match 15-11.
Despite losing their coach before even leaving the West Midlands (!) there were good results for Riga 2 who are improving as the season continues.
MVP (Cardiff Ladies game): Clare Francis
MVP (Cardiff Tigers game): Anna Wojdala
