Women's firsts stun Swiss Cottage in comeback
Saturday 15th January 2011
The University of Birmingham’s Super 8 women took on third in the league, Swiss Cottage at home. Brum faced a challenging match against a consistent team who beat them 3-0 earlier in the season, and things continued to look easy for Swiss Cottage as they took the first set 25-17. The unforced errors made by Birmingham were capitalised on by the oppositions experience and consistency.
At the start of the second set it looked promising for the home side at 4-4. Although the university side were still making mistakes and lost 4 points in a row and as the second set progressed they did not managed to up their game and failed to respond positively after the first technical time out. Swiss Cottage were playing strongly and increased their lead to 13-4. Swiss Cottage’s strong performance continued and they took the set 25-13.
The start of the third set looked promising after excellent serving by Birmingham’s Gemma Beddows to get to the first technical time out 8-7. Swiss Cottage failed to respond after the timeout and the University kept up their strong start to the set to make it 13-7, forcing their opponents to take a time out. The Birmingham girls knew this was their last chance to keep themselves in the game and Swiss Cottage made a substitute in an attempt to close down on Birmingham. It was looking promising for the home team, pushing to win the set it ws they who were winning more rallies compared to the first sets due to great defending commitment by the libero. The score went to 24-12 and Swiss Cottage gave University Of Birmingham the set serving in the net after a disappointing performance by them after the first two sets.
The University Of Birmingham were under pressure due to the consistency and experience of Swiss Cottage so the coach called a time out at 5-2. The team responded well after the time out winning the next point by Chloe Edwards perfect set to her team mate Gemma Beddows to spike successfully. Good passing by Wojtczak for Birmingham increased the sides chances of winning the set along with strong serving to push on to the fifth set. The two strong sides took it to 24 all. A hitting error by Swiss Cottage and a huge hit by Wojtczak for Birmingham destroying the block finished off the set to take it to the fifth from 2-0 down!
It was a close start to the set, University of Birmingham blocked well and the home side hitting very well. An ace by Birmingham ended up in Swiss Cottage making a mistake after poor receiving. Chloe Edwards kills it through the middle for the Birmingham girls in a tense situation making the score 8-7. It was looking positive from Birmingham after coming from 2-0 down. Wojtczak for the home team was also hitting well and the setter Kowalska scored an ace to make it 13-9 to the University. Swiss Cottage called a time out but were unable to turn it around and after an excellent performance in the last three sets the University of Birmingham won the fifth, set after coming from 2-0 down, 15-9!
Match Facts
Competition: National League Super 8s.
Played: Home.
Result: Won 3-2.
Set Scores: 17-25, 13-25, 25-12, 26-24, 15-9.