WEYMOUTH LADIES 1 SOLENT LADIES 3

WEYMOUTHS home friendly against Solent more than lived up to expectations with the Eastleigh-based team bringing their full National League squad to the resort.

But despite the visitors quality, the hosts turned in probably their best-ever performance, taking the first set 25-23.

The closeness of the scoreline reflected the fact that neither team could break the others solid back-court defences.

Weymouth in particular looked impressive, with Louise Richardson and Kathy Chapman supplying the setter with a string of accurate first passes off of the powerful Solent attacks.

However, their attack was never going to be as strong as the visitors, but it was consistently accurate, and the second set began in much the same vain with Marianne Gerety hitting well through the middle.

The seaside girls were playing with a lot of confidence and an upset was really starting to look on the cards.

But with their backs against the wall, Solent showed why they are in the National League, and reorganised mid-set to play a six-up rotation. This had the effect of dropping their wing cover deep to give even better defence

This was to prove the turning point of the game. With the better defence, it was the visitors turn to be able to supply their setter, Marla Baldwin, with quality passes.

Baldwin using the skills that won her National League Player of the Year 2001/2002.

By consistently varying her setting options, Solent started to stretch Weymouths block and eventually took the set 25-18 to level the match.

The third set proved to be a tough one for the hosts who went down 25-16, but the fourth began in promising style with Weymouth moving into an early 13-8 advantage.

Solent however were able to use their much greater experience to slowly claw this deficit back with some extremely powerful hitting from Emma Beatie and Heather Rudge to win the set 25-17 and take the match 3-1.

But despite the defeat, Weymouth were never outclassed in this match and have proved that they have improved dramatically in a very short space of time.

Spokesman Ian Loke said: After forming only four months ago, the girls are capable of competing against National League opposition.

After the match Solent complimented us on our play and have offered a rematch as part of the Hampshire teams pre-season build-up for the 2002/2003 National League season.

,,h Training will continue on Tuesday evenings between 7.30pm and 9.30pm at Portland YMCA. Any potential new players are welcome. They should however, contact either Amy Birch (01305) 821709 or Ian Loke (01305) 823556 prior to attending.