A Brilliant Victory over the University of Aberdeen

Inspired by an amazing Men 1st team's victory against Aberdeen University on Tuesday, Women's 1st took on Aberdeen ladies' 1st team at home the day after. One does not get to see such matches everyday - two hours of pure tension resulted in spirited Saints ladies securing victory 3:1.

It did not start too well for the Saints team, however. From the onset of the match, Aberdeen proved that they did not travel a hundred miles down South just to play for fun - they had come for much more. The determination of the opposition lead them to win the first set of the match 22:25. Nonetheless, some experts argue that Saints ladies let Aberdeen win the first set on purpose. They choose this tactical manoeuvre so that the opposition would start resting on laurels, and once they do - spike some balls! It worked out well against Edinburgh, and, as we see, worked out this time too.

After a break and a few substitutions made by coach Shelly Paterson, the team came back strong. With simply indefensible serves from Hannah Berwian, Vitalija Lavreckyte and Kirby Mateja, the team was gaining momentum. However, opposition's main player number 14, playing both front and back court, did some damage drilling the balls down to the ground and therefore stopped Saints from running away too quickly. But they fought back with some great effort from all 4 interchangeably appearing middle players and back court defence from Lorena Tussis, and the second set ended 25:22, making it equal 1:1. The third set was the quickest one (25:12) - Aberdeen's number 14 got really exhausted and this chance was utilised well by our never-tired squad. Moreover, Saints cheerleading group shouted, chanted and supported the team really hard, which also helped maintain the positive attitude and physical energy flowing throughout the set. After 3 sets, Saints were leading 2:1. Fourth set brought some fantastic point-to-point play by both teams. Saints ladies showed their soul power with amazing sets from Indre Semogas, which ended up as incredible line or cross-court hits by Emma Fox, Hannah Berwian, Kirby Mateja and Jeannette Viens. As the match lasted longer than expected, a lot of basketball players began to emerge into the hall, waiting for their turn to play. Nevertheless, they were not angry with us, unintentional occupants of their playing court and time - they were rather enjoying a seriously beautiful volleyball match. A special round of applause went toCharlotte Daman Willems who, at the very end of set 4, absolutely calmly but fiercely made two flat serves into opponents' side of the court , which meant that Saints ladies won the last set 28:26, and, in turn, the whole match (3:1). Big thanks to all the judges, line-judges and scorers, as well as to all supporters who came. On Sunday the 10th of November Saints ladies will fight Heriot-Watt Women's 1st team. If you want to see some more quality volleyball, make sure you come support us. Go Saints!