On Sunday the second team ladies took on a team from the west country. In the first set the girls started sluggishly and were soon playing catch up. Some hard hitting from new polish signing Katcha Mimoloajczak helped to increase team spirit but this was not enough not make up the deficit and they finally lost 21:25.
In the second set the girls upped their game. With Anya Wojdala hitting well through the middle and some good back court cover from Emma young as libero the girls clinched the set 25:20.
Sadly they couldn’t maintain their form in the 3rd and lost 21:25. In desperation coach Tomasz Morawski changed the line up in the 4th set putting Penny Smith through the middle, versatile, ever reliable Lynette Purkiss as off setter. In the early stages the girls struggled to adapt to the change and were soon, 14:21 down. However some strong serving from Jayne Warman and Ellie Beatie brought the scores level and after a supreme team effort they triumphed 25:22. Sadly a number of unforced errors saw the set slip away and the girls lost a disappointing 15:9 in what had been a very long, 2 hour match!
In the second fixture of the day Riga faced local rivals Leicester. In an effort to inspire his team after their defeat in the first match the coach tried one of his now famous “reshuffles” leaving 2 of his senior players (in years) on the bench.. The team just clinched the first set 25:23 but lost the second 23:25. In the third he opted for a more tired and tested format and the girls slotted comfortably back into their “normal positions” taking the set 25:14. However in the 4th set disaster struck! Powerful middle hitter Anya Wojdala sustained a bad eye injury as she and another team mate scrambled to retrieve a stray pass. This unsettled the team and the situation was made worse by the fact that the club’s sports hall booking had only minutes left to run. Luckily Penny Smith, who had already played 2 different positions that day stepped in a replaced the injured Anya and the girls finally took the set and hence the match 25 :20 at 6.15pm having been at the venue since 10.30 that morning!!
A solid back court performance from the libero Emma Young earned her the “most valuable player” award and setting skills of Clare Francis and Virginia Rennie complemented each other well giving the team hitting options from all areas of the court.
The team has been without their coach for 3 weeks and their thanks go to club members Andy Collins, Chris (Kiwi) Anderson and John Gilling who gave up their time to coach the girl’s in Tomasz’ absence.
No pictures from the game as resident photographer Chris Jones had to line 9 sets (!!) due to lack of other people in the Club being able to help out. But the girls went to local restaurant for dinner after the game and to celebrate Clare's birthday...
