The final ladies game of the season for the A pair…
By Katie Garner
Jess and Katie ready to kick butt!
It’s been a rather bleak season for us in the ladies first division, facing formidable females from a variety of strong clubs. But, with our final series of matches approaching, both Jess and I were determined to give it our all, especially as we’ve both felt that our matches have been improving bit by bit over the past couple of weeks. Tonight, we were at Emerson Park School, the oven baked and vibrantly green home of the smartly dressed Emerson Eagles. We were due to play Corinthians B, and home side Emerson Eagles A. So, ready to embark in battle, we took the shuttle by the feather and began…
Firstly, we played Corinthians B. We actually took the first game by storm, playing quite a few big smashes, and coming out on top when dealing with the net. We mainly stuck to playing front-back tactics, as I feel this is what grants us the best opportunities to gain points. We managed to work our way to a 21-12 win for the first game. The second game, they upped the ante and they pulled through, us getting a tantalisingly close 17, which meant that we were now heading into a decider – never a pleasant option. However, we actually won quite comfortably with 21-9, giving us a fantastic finish to the season, since I can’t actually remember the last win that we had! I think it may even have been the very first night the ladies season started! We were incredibly pleased with the performance, with our teamwork working well, lots more shouting and things like that. Shot wise, I think we were just more used to playing front and back, although they were always more likely to catch us out at the back rather than the front. Nevertheless, a really pleasing performance for us!
Our second match of the night was against Emerson Eagles A. They usually play sides but we found they often rotated to match our front and back. This game was incredibly fast paced, with some of the speediest rallies we have ever had. It was a torrent of low, gun-shot like drives and smashes, from both us and them, with the occasional patter of net shots breaking the reassuring thwack of a speeding shuttle. The first game was really tense as we got ahead, and then lost the lead. It then ended up getting to 17-19 to them and we were all feeling the pressure. Luckily, Jess and I pushed through getting a 21-19 win. The second game switched completely, and we couldn’t seem to do anything right. They upped their game and won 16-21, meaning that once again, a third game was necessary. Even though we had always gained a head start of at least 7 in all of the previous games throughout the evening, this game we played catch up – never a great place to be. They beat us in the end with another 16-21, although the rallies were long and drawn out with a rapid succession of smashes and drives. They definitely worked for it, and a lot more of our shots were bouncing in the net then in other games. A bit disappointing as we were so close, but ultimately they were good games so can’t moan!
I think for us, it was just so nice to actually win one again. It’s been a while since we won a ladies overall in the league so leaving with a win under our belts feels like such a success. Even when we were taking games to a third, we were getting close, but not quite close enough, so it feels amazing to actually have pulled one through, just as the season is closing. Hopefully, next season we won’t lose our mojo and we’ll be able to replicate this success a tad better than we have so far!
Let us know how your final games are progressing!
