Another successful day

Another Splendid Saturday for Su Ragazzi.

Saturday 18th January 2014 – another series of fixtures in the Scottish National League……another series of wins.

The rampage continues…..
The Baby Suettes V Dundee at Carluke High School.

The Baby Suettes are rampaging their way through the Division II Championships. The team was entered into the National League to provide an opportunity for our youngsters to gain some playing experience, but they have taken the women’s Division II by storm, and are on an astonishing winning streak.

The early start to the match didn’t seem to suit Jen Henderson’s Dundee side, as they found themselves 11 – 2 down in the first set after just three servers. The points gap was closed as the set unfolded but the home side won it fairly comfortably 25-16 and then went to sleep!

That wasn’t the script, but Dundee played well and wanted to demonstrate they were better than their first set showing…..they were and they did and they captured the second set 26-24.

Some stern talking in the change of ends huddle then followed. Captain Jen Downs demanded better from her troops, she demanded a better focus, a more resilient approach to defending, and a return to the playing style that has brought them so much success this season. The players went into their huddle, they counted down and made the ‘team shout’ and then dominated the set to won 25-14. Dundee had no answers to the questions that the young players posed, and the second change of ends was full of smiles.

Set four the pattern of being focused stayed the same. Marketa thundered the sets that Lucy provided onto the floor. Claire solved the timing issue that had been interfering with her attempts to kill the ball first tempo, and the game speeded up. Raveen took charge of the back court and Priya served missiles at the struggling Dundee. The home side took the set and the match with an emphatic 25-10 score.

We played the fifth set, Dundee wished we hadn’t had to as the score was 15-2. The scoreline did not paint an accurate picture of their ability, but on this occasion the court was 2m shorter than the aim of their spikers. After the match Captain Jen remarked; “Good, we played well in spells. We came out of it mentally for a bit, but recovered. Marketa played a power game and scored a lot of kill points.” Setter Lucy Scouller remarked “ It was untidy in places, but overall a good game”.

Well done to the Baby Suettes.


Meanwhile at Coltness the Fabulous Suettes played local rivals NLVC
This was a derby match, the preparation for the game acknowledged that it was never going to be easy, that NLVC were a threat, and the Suettes were coming back from a bruising encounter with Jets……….Practice this week had been very good, the Suettes were ready…….and won three sets to zero.

Setter Ellen Barwise ran the show. She used all of her attacking options and constantly probed at the NLVC defence, and the rest of the team served like demons……..It was over in short time with the set scores 25-13, 25-14, 25-18

Well done girls!


Back at Carluke….
The Su II Boys V Beacon Fire

The boys from Aberdeen had a long journey to get to Carluke, and the game was over before they really had a chance to settle.

The first set was over in just 17 minutes with the home side dominating throughout and winning 25-16

Set 2 was even shorter at just 16 minutes. Again the home side dominated. The Aberdeen Boys hussled and chased, but weren’t able to handle the service pressure, or the speed of the Su Ragazzi offence, and the set was captured 25-14.

Set 3 was even shorter at just 13 minutes and a score of 25-7. The headlines don’t look good for the Beacon side. They were trying to stem the tide of points scored by the Su Ragazzi youngsters, it was simply too big an ‘ask’ of them. They wanted to play high and slow, the home side demanded that the game be fast, and the linkages tight. Game done.

Set 4 we ran changes and introduced some of the bench to the game. They took a little while to settle so the set lasted for 19 minutes, and the Aberdonians worked hard to earn 20 points. They continued to work hard in set 5 and just lost it 13-15……but finally the home side deserved their 5 sets to zero win.

After the match Colin Sangster, back from his trip to Australia remarked; “We started well, but a lack of intensity interfered with our rhythm so we started to make mistakes. Once we started to bring some intensity to our play, and cut out the errors, we killed more balls and that’s what ultimately won us the match”.

Libero Stuart Mackenzie was a little more cryptic, he commented; “Good for most part….untidy ……”

Well done to the Su II Boys.



Meanwhile back at Coltness…..
The City of Glasgow Ragazzi boys faced Bon Accord.

Before this match the City Boys were under pressure because of a long list of injuries and players being unavailable. On paper we have a squad of 12 players, in this match we had a bare six that included Libero Cammy Galloway playing through his second choice position of Middle Blocker. But sport is mostly about attitudes, and in this game the home side’s attitude was spot on resulting in a 3 sets to zero win.

Ali Galloway played a stonker of a match, despite carrying an injury, and the rest of the team were resolute and determined, which saw them clean up with sets scores of 25-19, 25-22, 25-13.

Well done to the City Boys, well done to all of our teams…..another 4 win Saturday….terrific!