WEW1 thump Tuskers

Having confidently disposed of their previous opponents in the league as well as National League opposition, the women's first team was on a high going into the match against Tuskers. As with all of the games in this division, the match was a bit of the unknown and it was unclear how many of their National League division 2 players Tuskers were going to bring.

In the absence of Jessie FORESTER, Julie KOUAMO took on the captains role and promptly won the toss. Eagles started by receiving the serve and promptly sided out with a hit from Aurore BERTOLANI. It soon became obvious that the Tuskers receive was not going to be able to deal with any movement on the ball and Eagles quickly built a 10-4 lead with Nathalia BETANCUR forcing errors by serving with power between the passers. Eagles took their foot of the gas a little but the set result was never going to be in doubt . The introduction of Linda MOLNES woke the players up and they sealed the set 25-12.

Eagles started the second set with the team that had ended the first. A little confusion early on saw Eagles slip to a 1-3 deficit- the only time they were to be behind in the entire game. However a side out from the hitting of Sagette DESALLIERS brought Bethany LOWNEY around to server and she soon reclaim the lead for Eagles by clever serving that made the passers move. Given the poor first ball that the Tuskers setter was receiving, and the WE block being well placed to snuff out most attacks, Tuskers reverted to tipping the ball over. Despite having spoken about our need for movement in defence, the ball was too often watched as it fell just in front of people and this allowed Tuskers more points than they deserved. Coach David JENKINSON again made a late substitution to use his bench, which saw Geri SANCHO return to the play and Eagles soon saw out the set 25-9.

The third set started with KOUAMO on the bench and LOWNEY getting her first taste of captaincy. In the previous games Eagles had relaxed at this stage and JENKINSON was hoping that a change in the passing unit, with DESALLIERS and BERTOLANI taking over the duties, would be enough to keep the team focussed. Despite the introduction of several of Tuskers' National League players, this seemed to be the case with Eagles quickly racing into a lead, with blocking from MOLNES in the early stage of the game, keeping Tuskers down. BETANCUR again showed the power of her serve when it is aimed away from the passers and took Eagles into a commanding 11-4 lead before Sarah WHITLEY returned from several months of injury to blast off some of the rust in the passing unit. Whilst not ready yet to return as full-time libero, WHITLEY's performance was encouraging given the lay off she has had and it will only be a few more weeks of training, allowing her to gain confidence, before she is back to her best. Tipping again was the problem for Eagles with static backcourt defence but by this stage there was no doubt to the result and the sides traded until Eagles sealed the set 25-13 and the game 3-0.

WEW1 beat Tuskers 3-0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-13)

SQUAD

Aurore BERTOLANI
Nathalia BETANCUR
Sagette DESALLIERS
Julie KOUAMO (Captain)
Bethany LOWNEY
Linda MOLNES
Geri SANCHO
Sarah WHITLEY

David JENKINSON (Coach)
Donald DEANS (Assistant Coach)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Julie KOUAMO

Thanks to Brian for scoring at the last moment and Magda for arriving after a call to referee!