The University of Lincoln’s Women’s Volleyball team fell in straight sets to the University of Leicester despite a spirited fight back in the final set from the hosts.
Lincoln started the game brightly and claimed an early lead in the first set but Leicester soon found their rhythm.
The first set was then tight for a while with some great rallies entertaining the large crowd but after some mistakes by Lincoln, Leicester took a comfortable lead and eventually won the set 25-15.
Leicester took hold of the second set, and the match, by dominating the early proceedings.
While once again Lincoln had a bright spells, mistakes crept into their game and Leicester were able to capitalise.
Despite a very loud crowd supporting Lincoln, the hosts could not get consecutive points to stage a comeback in this set.
However when the rallies started to lengthen Lincoln came into their own and started to make an impact on the scoring. Despite this, the second set was eventually lost 25-17.
The third set started off terribly for Lincoln.
Almost instantly Leicester took a big, unassailable lead.
But as Leicester got closer and closer to match point, Lincoln kept improving and getting and the score continued to close.
When Leicester found themselves at match point, Lincoln started to get point after point, making the visitors from the East Midlands incredibly nervous.
From 21-12 down, Lincoln pulled the game back to 23-24 but as a tie break threatened, Leicester found the point they needed to win to inflict a straight sets defeat on the hosts.
Judith Gruntjes – Captain of Women’s Volleyball
“The whole team gave everything that we had in our toes and in our hands. Even though we lost it was such a good game.”
On the near comeback at the end “I barely looked at the scores so I had no idea what the points were. I was like yeah we’re going to win this one and then at the end it was like ‘oh it’s done’ so it was kind of like hitting a wall.”
“Even though we lost, we can work on certain things we didn’t do well. It was a good learning experience. Everyone has the feeling we won because of the end.”
“It was good we had a lot of supporters there. You feel all those eyes staring at you so there’s a kind of pressure but that pressure is so good to work with.”
“(The crowd at the end) Was mental! I was like girls keep focus but everyone was so happy you couldn’t control it anymore.”
“Without the coach we couldn’t do it. The girls who were the setters did an amazing job. I think everyone was on the top of their game.”
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