Revenge is sweet for Women’s Volleyballers
Essex University’s women’s volleyball team enacted sweet, swift revenge on Kings College London (KCL) winning emphatically in straight sets 25-11, 25-15, 25-19.
Having destroyed the London School of Economics (LSE) two weeks ago (25-6, 25-5, 25-5), UoE were brimming with confidence and eager to defeat their nemesis KCL, the only team to have defeated them so far.
The first set began in a nervous fashion with both teams making early service errors and showing too much respect towards each other. UoE began to show their class winning twice as many points as Kings. Excellent serving from setter Nao Akutsu and attacks from Elisa Marenzi advanced UoE to a mature first set victory.
The cracks were beginning to show in the Kings team who had no substitutes to shake the game up and prevent a landslide. The ability of our players and the excellent home support meant the second set would surely be ours. King’s serving was again poor and UoE capitalised to take a 21-14 lead before professionally wrapping up the set. Captain Sara Ayala was a consistent threat throughout the match connecting well with passes from Kristi Cordes.
The third set saw King’s make a determined fight back with rallying calls from their captain. Serving was now in full flow with both teams needing to work hard for every point. Libero Mana Yamashita proved to be decisive
Inevitably, the opposition could not find anyway through the strong blocks from Laura Seelkopf and player of the match Verena Barroso Bastos. Verena was the newest player into the team, but her strong attacks and defence earned her excellent appraisal from onlookers. The evident skill of UoE meant they kept their noses in front until the end.
UoE are now favourites to win their group and after this performance it would take a serious gambler to bet against them. The team will take nothing for granted however and will train harder to win the remaining matches in the New Year.
Player of the Match: Verena Barroso Bastos – faultless performance