Despite a 3-0 loss, Lancaster’s Women’s Volleyball team played well in a hard fought match against the York side, with the first and second sets being very close. Unfortunately, the final set saw Lancaster’s team spirit drop a little, allowing for a York victory.
Both teams started the first set very strongly, and it was close up until the end. Lancaster lost a few unfortunate points to the net, however the serving from the team was strong throughout, especially from the captain Irene Louca. While York led the set, Lancaster grew in confidence in the second half of it and their score reflected this. However, although it was a close call up until the end, York secured a win with a score of 25 points to 21.
It was a confident start from Lancaster in the second set, with some strong defence from Tang Dom. Half way through the set, when the teams took a time out, Lancaster were winning 12 points to York’s 10. However, after the time out York slowly started to catch up with Lancaster, who lost a few points to the net. Both York’s team and their supporters became more vocal at this stage, however Lancaster were still the stronger team throughout the set. As the set progressed the York players became more desperate to catch up and their defence grew stronger. At 24-17 to Lancaster, the crowd expected an easy win for the home side, with them only needing one more point to win the set. Unfortunately, York came back fighting and scored 9 straight points to win the second set 26-24. York’s strongest players Gibson-Smith and Albino helped to secure this win with their strong defence and spikes throughout.
After a disappointing defeat, Lancaster seemed to have lost their team spirit in the third set and it was clear from the way they were playing – York had secured 5 straight points and Lancaster called a time out. There was a powerful pep talk from the Team’s coach, who was heard telling the team they needed to focus. Her speech seemed to have worked and Lancaster came back from being five points down to securing 10 straight points make the score 10-5. However, this was a close game and York caught up, scoring 11 straight points to take the score to 16-10 to the away team. While Lancaster were fighting back towards the end of the set and the score was getting closer, it was sadly not enough to win the set. The home side lost the third set by 25 points to 18 giving York a 3-0 victory overall.
Lancaster player Julia Czaplińska at the end of the game stated the loss was a real shame for the team: “We had one of our main middles injured in yesterday’s mixed game and I think we would’ve played much better had she been here.” She went on to say that “The girls did really well this year in the league and came third, but it’s a shame because yesterday’s men’s and mixed games won.”
