WEW1 Dominate Dynamo

White Eagles' women's first team hosted the only other unbeaten team in their division last week with one of the sides bound to lose their 100% record. WE went into the game confident after some good training sessions and having not conceded a set in the league, unlike their opposition who had dropped a set to WEW2.

The game started with confusion. Despite the lights having been fixed in the sports hall, the contractors have freed a loose wire which was hanging about 4 metres above the court and a long debate ensued regarding what was going to happen if the ball hit it (which happened once in the game and was missed by the opposition and the referees). Nigel Touch took to the stand for the first time as the appointed referee failed to show and Magda Berge took over second referee duties with Anke Zeller scoring.

The first set finally started and an error by the White Eagles coach saw the team sheet entered with the wrong rotation entered. This caused some confusion within the team which led to errors early on in the set, allowing Dynamo to take a 5-1 lead. Eagles continued to struggle but didn't allow their opposition to increase their lead and were soon regaining the odd point here and there and brought themselves back into contention at 11-12, with the introduction of Mary-Jane SCHOLLER in the back court for Geri SANCHO. SCHOLLER was slow to pick up her duties in the pass though and this forced a time out at 11-16 down. Some further encouragement form the side-lines saw Eagles stop the rot at 16 and Nathalia BETANCUR stepped up to serve for the first of her impressive series of serving runs. She put on 8 points, ably assisted by the blocking of Aurore BERTOLANI at the net, and used up one of the oppositions time-outs before a tip saw the Eagles defence on their heels, watching the ball fall to centre court. However, BERTOLANI took up the serving challenge to take Eagles to 24-17 before two side outs meant Eagles won the set 25-18.

With the rotation corrected White Eagles were a lot more comfortable in the next set and setter Bethany LOWNEY started to dictate the play, based upon the recent sessions the ladies have had. Eagles were again slow to start but soon had the set under control, through the serving of SCHOLLER putting the Dynamo passing unit under pressure. With limited options from poor ball, Dynamo were forced to tip the ball and the Eagles defence soon started waking up, with BETANCUR making a number of good pick-ups. Again the combination of BERTOLANI blocking with BETANCUR serving caused the opposition problems and allowed WE to add 10 points. With the opposition broken, Eagles traded side-outs to win the set 25-12.

Changes were made for the third set as Sonja WOESSMANN came on to play against her old team. She made an immediate impression with a kill block to stop Dynamo's hard hitting middle player, followed by a kill attack. With the excitement of the first two points over, WE settled in to a side-out game whilst the team accommodated the changes made. Soon however it was BETANCUR's turn to serve and the inevitable points were added (although only 5 this time), a run that was brought to a premature end by a refereeing error, calling a ball out after Jessie FORESTER had hit an unstoppable tandem attack. Coach David JENKINSON decided that it was time to introduce Andrea LIXANDRU in place of LOWNEY. Having had only a single training session since overcoming an ankle injury, it was always going to be difficult for LIXANDRU to come into the side and click with the hitters and a number of errors were made. However, it was important in her rehabilitation as well as for the depth of the team and the dominance that Eagles had shown in the previous sets allowed them to stay ahead of their opposition. The final action of the game was fittingly WOESSMANN again hitting an ace to take the set 25-21 and the game 3-0.

White Eagles have given due notice to the London League first division of their intentions for the season, and after this match the ladies adjusted their goals to winning the division without dropping a set. Thanks to all of the supporters who came down to cheer the ladies on and in particular the ladies third team who came en masse. Thanks to Nigel for stepping up when needed and to Magda and Anke for doing likewise. Thanks also to the other scorers, who I think were from Dynamo, who volunteered to help given the absence of a first referee.

WEW2 beat Dynamo Dyke Won 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-21)


SQUAD

Aurore BERTOLANI
Nathalia BETANCUR
Sagette DESALLIERS
Jessie FORESTER (Captain)
Julie KOUAMO
Andrea LIXANDRU
Bethany LOWNEY
Geri SANCHO
Mary-Jane SCHOLLER
Sarah WHITLEY (Libero)
Sonja WOESSMANN

David JENKINSON (Coach)


PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Nathalia BETANCUR