Our second home match of the season reaps rewards

By Katie Garner

With only three fixtures left on our ladies check list, things are heating up as we enter the latter stages of the season. Last night saw the league ladies of Division One head to our home ground at Frances Bardsley School as we shared the sports hall with a men’s doubles match against one of the Barking teams. With Jess out for the count in a revision session at Whitechapel, I was once again partnered by the trusty and reliable Janet, as we attempted to build some points on our unfortunately lacking score board. We were due to face off against Corinthians A and Hunters – both usually strong and fiery squads who pepper their play with drives.

Against Corinthians A:

  • 17-21 / 21-17 / 21-18

Despite spluttering and coughing with snuffly cold like symptoms, I wasn’t going to let that hold me back as Janet and I stepped on court. Still flushed with our recent success at last Fridays Challenge Cup match at Redbridge, we now knew that we could pull through for a complete win which gave us more hope than usual. Corinthians A were not fielding their usual team so it was a different pairing to the one we normally combat, so we were keeping everything crossed that we could maybe out-do them with our improving team work.

We lost the first game, but then went on to win the next two, meaning that yes – we actually won our first ladies league game just as the season is nearing its conclusion. Better late than never I suppose! This duo tended to play front and back, as did we, so it was just a matter trying to be as smooth and seamless as possible with our movements and shots, which we all know is easier said than done. I feel on the whole, our net interception was good, with Janet throwing herself at every mid court shot. I feel as well as rotating well around each other, we were also able to move Corinthians around the court nicely as well, mainly focusing on wearing out the player at the back. Luck was also on our side, as we cringed delightfully at some very jammy and tantalising net calls as the shuttle tenderly kissed the top of the net cord before fluttered over to our opponents’ side.  We probably hit more shots out than we would have liked, and I know I wasn’t as polished as I would have preferred to be, but on the whole, I feel we gave the guys a good run for their money, and it made a fantastic difference for us to grab the win at the end. It’s nice to get at least one!

Against Hunters:

  • 12-21 / 9-21

We played this game as the last one of the night, and I think neither of us seemed to have the high-energy oomph needed to give Hunters the bolt of the blue that would have been needed for a win. This dynamically destructive pairing love a fast paced rally and we usually indulge in plenty of drives and smashes galore, totally detonating the notion that women should simply stick to net play. Granted, Kellie has a wonderfully dinky short serve and Hunters are probably one of the only other teams that can combat us on the net in equal footing.

In this one, Hunters simply performed better than we did, keeping us on our toes and running around, whilst we seemed to have a penchant for hitting the feathers as far away from the court as humanly possible, which does get a tad annoying when you do it with the religious regularity we were then encountering. We just couldn’t seem to get out game to click so we never really got going as such in this one which is a shame. It would have been great to be able to hit double figures in both the games.

Conclusion:

Although our play may not have been as sleek or energetic as our usual exuberance, it felt amazing to finally chalk up a win on our non-existent tally, despite then having a bit of a fail against Hunters afterwards. A half and half result but one we aren’t knocking!

The following fixture is next Tuesday, to be played at Hunters new grounds over in Dagenham. Jess has said that she will be available for this one, so it will be interesting to see if we can nab any more points for Team Wychelm.