BITTERSWEET FOR ESSEX TRINITY
Essex Trinity 0 v 3 Bath Mavericks (13-25, 14-25, 18-25)
Essex Trinity 3 v 2 Plymouth (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 12-25, 15-11)
It was a mixed bag for Essex Trinity as they took on Bath Mavericks and Plymouth in a double header. Bath put out a strong opposition with some extremely powerful servers, which put Trinity on the back foot. Trinity give back a few nice attacks but were not able to build runs of points with their inconsistent serving. Despite some super setting by Green, deservedly earning her the vote for ‘Most Valuable Player’, Trinity struggled to get their game together and were quickly defeated 3-0.
Essex Trinity now faced Plymouth. They did not fancy the long drive home win-less so after a team chat Trinity returned to the court composed and ready to play. Trinity re-found their serving game with Lambert and Williams scoring runs of 5 serves each in the first set and Bohannan’s monster serve earning her 7 consecutive points for the team in the second set. Trinity dominated Set 1 and 2 and led the match 2-0. However the table quickly turned in Sets 3 and 4 with Plymouth, who were fighting to avoid relegation, turning on the heat. Despite Pereira’s unstoppable killer attacks and Niederquell incredible defence, Plymouth controlled the game bring the set scores to 2-2.
In the fifth and final set Essex Trinity gave a fantastic team performance with Andronescu, Pollard and Sands helping the team to eventually win the set 15-11 and take the match! A special mention to Niederquell for her awesome all-round play particularly her infallible defence earning her the vote for the ‘Most Valuable Player’. And thanks to James Bernardi for being Essex Trinity’s super stand-in coach
Back Row: Ailsa Miller, Leasa Williams, Maria Pereira Ambrosio, Rachel Bohannan, Claudia Lambert, Sidonia Andronescu
First row: Maelle Niederquell, Pauline Sands, Kirsty Green, Amanda Pollard
Posing at the front: James Bernardi