National Shield
4 February 2012
Venue: Leeds Met Uni
Riga 3 Leeds Carnegie 2 0 (26-24; 25-15; 25-17)

Report written by Jayne Warman

On Sat 4th Feb Riga ladies travelled to Leeds (again!) to face Carnegie 2 in the quarter finals of the shield. The previous weekend the girls had played the same team in the league and had narrowly beaten them 3:2 so they were prepared for a tough match.

The girls started strongly with some powerful serving from middle hitter Mim Kay and some good back court hitting from opposite Bella Chetham. Nonetheless Leeds did not give up without a fight and Riga had to pull out all the stops to claim the set 25:23.

In the second set the line up remained the same and with the age old partnership of  Ginny Rennie setting and Jayne Warman hitting the girls established a firm lead taking the set 25:17.

In the final set Clare Francis switched places seamlessly with Ginny and a very encouraging performance by newly appointed middle hitter Helen Lloyd got the girls off to a strong start. Some excellent backcourt work from Netti Purkiss and Julie Bromel sealed Leeds' fate and Riga took the final set 25:15.

Riga now travel to Cardiff on Sat 25th Feb to face Team South Wales in the semi finals.