The GBW put in one last shift before their well earned christmas break and what a successful weekend it was, with wins galore for GB.
Belgium: Gea Happel Amigos win 3-2 v Hassrode Leuven
Palmer attacks for Amigo's
Palmer’s last league match before the Christmas break really turned out to be a tough match for Gea Happel Amigos. They started off the game pretty slow but with some good serving pushed to win the first two sets 25-21, 25-20. Hassrode Leuven came back strong and put a lot of pressure on the Amigo’s passing unit causing side out problems. The away team won the third 22-25 and narrowly in the fourth 24-26. So to a 5th set and it was a battle for the win and with a couple of bad referee calls the pressure was on. Finally, Amigos took the match 15-13 which takes them to 6th in the league which is a good standing after a tough start to the season.
Finland: O’Connor’s Pieksamaki lost 3-2 v PaKa
France: Pro A: TFOC win 3-1 v Vandoeuvre Nancy
Carter helps TFOC to another win
The local derby for Grace Carter’s TFOC was a high pressure game for both teams trying to avoid the relegation spots. TFOC were the stronger team from the start, playing aggressive from the service line and backing it up with a solid block defence. Comfortably taking the first two sets 25-16 and 25-19, TFOC were then cruising in the 3rd when their setter dislocated her elbow and was rushed to hospital. TFOC lost the same focus and mentality of the previous sets and ended up loosing the set 23-25. The 4th was back to clinical volleyball from TFOC, taking the set 25-12 and the match pushing them up to 9th place in the Championship.
DEF: Quimper win 3-0 v St Chamalieres (25-18, 25-22, 25-22)
Rachel Newton tells us about the match: “We started well and put good pressure on them with our service and variety of our attack. They were strong in attack too but we defended well and they made too many errors in their reception. We are really pleased with our last few performances and results. We now have moved up to second place and one point behind the leaders.”
Germany: Aachen beat Potsdam 3-1
Aachen were at home on Saturday night to Potsdam. It was Angelina Grun’s last game before leaving for Champions League team Dinamo Moscow and they wanted to finish the “era” with a win and an important 2 points.
Wicks with kill block v Potsdam and Argentina's FrescoPhoto: Andreas Steindl - www.photo-steindl.com
It was a scrappy game from the start with Potsdam defending well and Aachen’s block/defence taking some time to settle. In the first set Aachen were leading comfortably 21-17 but a strong comeback from Potsdam levelled the scores 22-22 and they went on to win the set 25-23. Potsdam took an early lead in the second set with strong serving, but Aachen came back with Wick’s on the line to go into the second technical timeout 16-12. Potsdam answered with some smart offence and it was point for point in the twenties. Aachen’s block started to come together and Potsdam couldn’t get past it allowing Aachen to take the set 28-26.
Aachen came out fighting after the break with strong serve and took a 16-9 lead. Potsdam continued to struggle to get past Aachen’s block and Aachen won the set 25-17. The fourth set was similar, again with Aachen leading 16-9. Grun finished off the set with some strong offence and scored the winning point to take the set 25-21 and win 3-1.
Rachel Bragg’s Hamburg won 3-0 v Sinsheim
Poland: Silesia Volley lost 3-2 v Legionovia Legionowo
Laybourne's Silesia Volley
Laybourne’s Silesia Volley always knew they were going to have to be on top form to beat the undefeated Legionovia Legionowo on Saturday night. The game could not have started better for Silesia as the team were 8-2 up before the first time out was called (the 1st league in Poland doesn’t have technical time outs). Countless errors from Legionovia Legionowo allowed Silesia to continue to get into their stride and they went onto win the first set 25:18. The second set played out like a dream. Strong serving and solid block defense allowed Silesia to dominate their opposition. The team were playing extremely well and did not let Legionovia Legionowo get an opportunity to fight back at all. The second was won comfortably 25:11.
Laybourne Blocks for Silesia
The third set started with Silesia trading with their opponents into the teens but it was almost like a penny dropped…. Whether is was a realisation that Silesia was beating the number one team in the league or whether Legionovia Legionowo decided they wanted to play and fight for the game – well we will never know. From the mid point of the third set Silesia faced well formed blocks, tougher serves, an unbreakable defense and in general much better all round play from their opposition. Although Silesia fought for the third set it was lost 21:25.
Legionovia Legionowo knew they had the momentum leading into the fourth set and demonstrated some of the qualities you would expect to see from a team who hadn’t lost a match all season. Elements of the game that had been missing for two sets started to knit together and Silesia unfortunately could not respond. The fourth set was lost 18:25. The fifth set was unfortunately over very quickly as a defeated and deflated Silesia knew they were up against the best in this situation. After what had been such a promising start to the game, the fifth and final set before the Christmas break was lost 15:6. A small consolation is that Silesia Volley take one point from the game and maintain their 7th position in the league.
Switzerland: Koeniz won 3-2 v Franche Montagne and 3-0 v Biel
A busy weekend for Bertelli’s Volley Koeniz, after a difficult week. With Head Coach Souza leaving the team on Thursday, it was all change for a very important weekend.
Bertelli's Team Koeniz
On Saturday, it was away to top of the league Franche Montagne and after a 3-0 home defeat earlier in the season Koeniz were looking for a strong performance. It was a match of ups and downs, with a lot of long rallies..definately one for the spectators!! Franche came out strong in the first set, dominating, especially in block and they took a comfortable 25-17 victory. Koeniz responded in the second with better all round play and less errors, level until after the 2nd technical time-out when a couple of strong serves backed up by excellent block defence made a breakthrough and the away team took the set 21-25. The third was a similar story, balanced until 17-15 when a substitute server arrived in the court and won the set from the line 25-15. 2-1 behind to the league leaders in their venue after such a bad ending to the set could have proved curtains for Koeniz but they showed a remarkable response. Playing with both quality and determination it was a comfortable 17-25 victory and so, to the 5th set. With the serve, Koeniz started remarkably..aggressive serving backed up by solid block and tenacious defence…the result, 0-8 ahead and never looked back, winning the set 9-15 and the match 2-3.
Sunday was a cup match against Biel Bienne, currently bottom of the league and beaten last week 3-0 by the home team, Koeniz. BUT, the Cup always has something special about it and Biel came out with that thought in their mind. Targetted serving and fighting for every single ball in defence meant Biel were not going to lie down and roll over but Koeniz still did enough to lead 2-0 (25:19,25:16). After the 10 minute break, Koeniz looked a little bit flat and tired, as if the match was over and they paid the price, struggling to find rhythm and making too many errors. The result, Biel win the set 19:25. A kick up the backside maybe, because everyone raised their game and Koeniz led 8-2 at the first technical time out in the 4th, never looking back and taking the set 25:15 and the match 3-1.
Bertelli strong in Serve Receive for Koeniz
Bertelli gives us her thoughts on the weekend….“it has been a difficult week, mentally more than anything…on the back of what has been both a successful and tough 3 and half months. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how this weekend would go for us, so to come away with 2 wins is a great result. Beating Franche on Saturday was important, its the first time in 6 games (including last year) that we have beaten them and it was great spirit and delivery that got us this win. It takes us to 2nd in the league and puts it in our control to finish there before the final round of the championship – where places are important. The most important thing for sunday was the win, its a cup match, it’s about being in the draw and we achieved that….overall, too many mistakes but we also showed some very good play. Mentally we were a bit in and out…but we are in the hat!! Now, a few days off volleyball, with only physical training and ready to play in a tournament in France on the 27th! Merry Christmas! “
VC Kanti Schaffhausen won 3-1 v Biel and 3-0 v Obwalden
A busy weekend for the Kanti girls Osborne and Goulet this week. It was a solid week of training but a full schedule before being allowed to think twice about the Christmas break. The weekend started with league match against Biel and Sunday was a cup game against an NLB team Obwalden. Osborne gave us her thoughts:
Nic Osborne
“A mentally tough weekend, to ensure focus wasn’t dropped for these two games and to finish the end of 2011 on a high. The first game was for the league and a must win game. Biel are currently ranked 9th but have taken sets of Champions League Volero so we had to come out firing. Despite good spirits, it proved a struggle for us. Serve pressure was not as strong from us as usual and our reception was variable. We took the first set 25-23 but they won the second by the same score. Following the ten minute break, we came back with full force and took the third set convincingly. The fourth was a little tighter but we took the game 3-1. Not the best of performances but 3 important points to take forward.
Sunday was a Swiss cup match against NLB Obwalden. We were sure not to underestimate the team as they are top of the Eastern league. However, it was a straightforward execution on our side and the game was won convincingly 3-0. The next round is the quarter finals and we find out who we will play on Monday. For now, a well earned Christmas break!”
NLB: Cossanay won 3-1 v Riiehen and lost 3-0 v Toggenburg
Jen Thom reports on her weekend of matches:
Thom's Team Cossanay
“Saturdays match proved tougher than we expected and Riehen had nothing to lose. We struggled to score and it felt like Riehen were defending everything. The first set was close but with focus from us at the end of the set with some consistent serving we won the set 27-25. The second set was also close and this time it was silly errors from us and lack of focus that made us lose that set 23-25. In the third set we refocused and began to put more pressure on serve and score on offence. We kept our focus and won the third and fourth set.”
“Sundays match was a great opportunity to play a team in NLA and to see how we matched against a team in the league above. It was a dissappointing result as we lost 3:0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23). We didn’t perform in the way we have played previously. We struggled to block especially on the right side and the setter was clever and caused us problems. It wasn’t untill the third set that we felt we were really in the game again as a change in line up made a difference but it wasn’t enough. It was us that lost us the game, it wasn’t that they did anything special we just struggled to play the way we know we can. So a disappointing result as we are now out of the cup but hopefully the team can go on to improve for the second half of the season.
For me it was the last weekend I play with Cossonay so was a dissappointing game to finish on. I have now signed with Biel starting the 2nd of January and looking forward to a new start after xmas.”
Spain: CV Las Palmas won 3-0 v Cuestra Piedra Santa Cruz
On paper it should have been a comfortable match for Beattie’s Las Palmas, but travelling to Tenerife without their starting Libero and an injured setter, it proved a little more difficult for them.
Beattie attacks for Las Palmas
The first set was very even until the second technical time-out, after which the home team, Cuestra Piedra took the initiative and found themselves with a 24-21 lead through tough serving and a never say die attitude in defence. However, somehow Las Palmas managed to recover the points deficit, fighting for every point and applying pressure from the service line. Las Palmas won the first set 28-26.
Into the second set, the home team had the momentum early on, sending Las Palmas into dissaray, resulting in them losing their rhythm and their confidence. Again Las Palmas found themselves 22-17 down in the second set, but conmtinued to apply pressure from the service line and clawed back the points deficit once again, taking the set 25-23 and a 2-0 lead.
The third set saw a more relaxed performance from Las Palmas. Quality service receive allowed them to use their middle attack, which Cuestra Piedra didnt have an answer for. Las Palmas won the 3rd set 25-18 and the match 3-0. Beattie comments:
“It was a very erratic performance from us this week, with our starting 6 disrupted by injury, but we fought hard for the win which is most important. We now have one more match before the christmas break. Our team is still suffering from a couple of injuries in key positions but we have trained well this week and are ready for the challenge against Universidad de Burgos. It wont be an easy game but we are looking to end 2011 on a high with a win at home tonight.”
Janine Sandell’s Valeriano Alles Menorca won 3-1 v Haro Rioja with Janine the best server of the league with 3 aces and top 3 overall points contributor with 20 points. Tonight they played their last match before the christmas break and won 3-0 v Nuchar Eurochamp Murillo, taking them to top of the leader board in the Spanish Superliga.