Katie Scott reveals the latest standings from the final ladies match of the season
With March steamrollering to a close and April tottering in sight, the final matches of the season are now limbering up. This evening saw Kay and I head over to Bower Park School, where we would play the concluding ladies pairs matches against the Corinthians A and B pairs as well as the duo from Harold Hill. Although we got off to a slow start way back in September, our results and wins have been clocking up and building momentum, accumulating in a home victory of two wins out of three in our last fixture. With all still to play for, we were fired up and ready to give our final foray our very best shots.
Results:
- Against Corinthians B: 21-16 / 21-20
- Against Harold Hill: 16-21 / 10-21
- Against Corinthians A: 11-21 / 21-15 / 21-20
I have to say, tonight we played some of our most competitive ladies games, with two of our results going straight to the wire at 20-20 and one even going for a decider. Despite being exhausting, the matches were exhilarating and I’m so chuffed with the performance Kay and I put out. I think our brilliant results this evening demonstrate that you get out what you put in, so the practice on a Monday evening is finally yielding results!
The games were all fantastic and surprisingly similar in style. There were bucket loads of fast flurries of drives, zooming cross court, straight down the tram lines and even body shots. Reaction speed was all important whether for self preservation or attempting to return the shot! Amid this lightspeed style of play there was loads of length being tackled, as we all attempted to push the opposing players forwards and backwards with high clears followed by singing smashes or dinky drops, the emphasis here being that we had to be light on our feet or we were lost. I believe our movement tonight was some of our best, and we really threw ourselves into every point, reaching far more than we usually do (although we also showcased some interesting split positions too due to the slippy floor!). Our rotation and court cover worked rather seamlessly and set us up nicely for building the points. I feel there was definitely more thought into the placement and planning of the kills tonight, our grit and determination helping to see us through.
Corinthians B had some great tactical play, revealing some pretty awesome drops and cross court action. Corinthians A on the other hand were all about attacking the body – my Matrix style ducks came in handy here! Harold Hill are a unique combination of speed and power that is not only pesky but also quite inspiring. I finally feel like we have dragged our level up to play with the big guns and now, not only are we giving these gals a game, but we’re winning them too. Kay played sensationally, returning the toughest of smashes and really whizzing across the court to intercept drives. Her placement and serves were also spot on tonight and she covered me really well, especially when I took a dive for the net and she had to man the back of the court. I feel that my reversing skills were better than usual tonight which is a blessing as I usually resemble a van with orange lights when trying to move backwards! I definitely lobbed my whole body forwards quite a lot, recovering a lot of shots at the net, some of which even surprised myself. I feel we also had some decent shot placement, especially down the centre of the court and on the outskirts of the tram lines.
All of the games were so fast, it was non stop and constant for each point. All of the rallies were highly competitive, and being the last fixture of the season, we were all investing in trying to produce our best. Virtual high five to Kay, but I feel we played the best we have ever played, with Corinthians even commenting on our great play before we headed home for the night which was lovely. The score lines were so tantalisingly close they really could have gone either way and I will confess to chucking shots in the net more often than I would like, although I did try to utilise the clear more than normal. It is so refreshing to play these dizzying and speedy ladies games as it is such a contrast to the mixed as it’s always fun to get your smash on.
League match secretary Ross was also present and correct this evening, revealing that out of the four pairs in this division, Kay and I have ranked third so we’re not last – yay! This should also mean that we won’t be delegated and we can stay in Division One which would be nice as I feel we are just about making our mark and keeping it consistent. Fingers crossed we can keep up our practice and stay in this form for the next season!
