Bath’s women’s volleyball 1sts moved a step closer to defending their title after overcoming their Cambridge counterparts to advance to the quarter finals.
The last eight game will be held at the BUCS Championships in Sheffield on the 12th March, with a potential semi-final the same day. The final will take place two days later, also in Sheffield.
Yet all this talk of Yorkshire would have been irrelevant if Bath hadn’t won, and it certainly didn’t look like that early on as Cambridge took the first set 28-26.
“We got off to a slow start.” admitted Rachel Turner who was relentless throughout the latter stages of the game with her encouragement to team mates, and led by example with some good defensive work.
Early on though, her team mixed excellent spells of play with some basic errors, which a grateful Cambridge capitalised on. The visitors were clearly buoyed, and came out with intent and enthusiasm as the second set got underway.
Slowly but surely however, Bath began to creep their way back in, no doubt looking to make amends for dropping a set they should have won. Cleverly placed shots extracted errors from the Cambridge team, and although Bath were still well away from their best - Lizzie Smith’s continued tactic for using dips wasn’t particularly successful, for example - good digging work and continued pressure extracted the vital points for them to take the second set 25-19.
At the inter-set break, you could sense the tide was turning in Bath’s favour. Whilst Cambridge’s coach dictated instructions and tactics in an overly critical, lecture-like fashion, Turner rallied her troops to continue where they left off. The results of these contrasting talks were soon evident.
Evenly contested for the opening exchanges, Bath soon gained the upper hand through great teamwork and encouragement, as Cambridge began to wilt under the pressure created.
As the set wore on, the infectious enthusiasm of Cambridge in the first set began to disappear , replaced instead by defeatist groans and the barking of orders from the touchline. Bath kept cool heads to see out the third set 25-15, and take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-three contest.
Bath were clearly enjoying themselves now, and with this their play ventured toward the sublime. Smith’s dips, which were nullified earlier, began to send Cambridge players the wrong way, and in some cases sprawling across the Founders’ Hall floor as they desperately tried to keep up to speed. When they did repel these deft attacks, Turner was often on hand to send over punishing, acutely angled and powerful spikes to end the points.
Yet it was Jess Grimson who had the biggest say in the set. Her relentlessly efficient serving, sometimes clipping the line and often difficult to deal with saw Bath open up a 16-8 lead to firmly take a grip of the match. It was from this platform that Bath began to play a more expansive game, sending Cambridge players all over the court seemingly at whim.
Indeed, the clear enthusiasm and enjoyment of the Bath players seemed to get to Cambridge, who were now a team riddled with unforced errors and glum faces. As such, it was probably fitting that the final point would see some excellent defensive work from Bath’s Josephine Andersson, Marina Krawer and Haddie Reinhert, keeping the ball alive and eventually letting Cambridge be their own worst enemies; a mis-hit out of play being the final nail in the coffin as the fourth set ended 25-15, and with it the match.
Afterwards, Turner was understandably pleased with the team after a rocky start. “From the second set onwards, we started to show how well we can play. Hopefully now we can build on this and retain the championship.”
Leeds Carnegie, one of the strongest teams at BUCS level,also qualified for the BUCS Championships weekend. On the basis of this performance however, and in particular the final two sets, Bath should hold no fears about who they will face.
Post new comment