WEW1 Teach TH Lynx a Lesson

White Eagles women's first team continued their domination of the London League 1st division with a win over East end club TH Lynx.

A depleted squad of seven travelled to Lister School in Upton Park for the third game of the season. With returning libero, Sarah WHITLEY one of the squad, the decision whether to play her through the libero position or to play safe and use her to cover for any potential injuries was delayed until the last moment but eventually coach David JENKINSON opted to utilise her passing skills. With this decision made, the team picked itself, with Mary-Jane SCHOLLER being asked to play out of position in the middle.

Setter Andrea LIXANDRU, just coming back from injury, was a little rusty and found it difficult to combine with SCHOLLER and Geri SANCHO through the middle. However, her setting outside allowed WE to exploit the small opposition setter getting a number of free hits. Strong serving from LIXANDRU and captain Julie KOUAMO soon gave Eagles a lead in the set which they kept building until the later stages. at 24-12, WE clearly felt the set was won and promptly fell asleep. Poor passing and hitting errors, combined with lax defence allowed Lynx to come back. A time out at 24-18 failed to halt the slide and nerves were starting to become strained, when finally at 24-21 Eagles managed to side-out to take the set 25-21.

JENKINSON made a small change to the line up for the second set in order to match KOUAMO up against the Lynx setter. Unfortunately, Lynx made a change in bring her off for a taller replacement but KOUAMO's power continued to tell as she hit through the block. WHITLEY started to pay back the faith her coach had shown in her with an excellent display of defensive play which forced WE to improve as a team. Everyone wanted to get in on the act and Eagles again built a lead based on powerful serving around the opposition passing unit. However, the change in opposition setter started to bring their middle attack into the game. With the majority of attacks now coming from the tall Maria SHITTU she became more involved in the game. Her blocking was now becoming an effective line of defence and Eagles opted to introduce Nathalia BETANCUR reverse hitting into the game. With options either side of the net, the Lynx block was split and Eagles went on to win the set 25-17

Not wanting to lose their first set in the league, an unchanged line-up emerged onto court for the third set. WHITLEY led the way, by dominating the Eagles passing unit and giving LIXANDRU a solid platform to set from. With SCHOLLER opting to hit slower middle attacks she became more effective at the net and Eagles quickly accumulated a 10-1 lead. Serving was again key, with the Lynx pass unable to deal with the power from BETANCUR and SCHOLLER and Eagles soon closed out a routine set 25-15 to win the match 3-0.

WEW1 beat TH Lynx 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-15)

SQUAD

Nathalia BETANCUR
Sagette DESALLIERS
Julie KOUAMO (Captain)
Andrea LIXANDRU
Geri SANCHO
Mary-Jane SCHOLLER
Sarah WHITLEY

David JENKINSON (Coach)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Julie KOUAMO