GUERNSEY’S women sealed ninth place with their second win in consecutive days. Just as against Hitra 24 hours previously, they made the job harder than it should have been, letting slip a two-set lead before sealing the win in the fifth.
‘What is it with us and five-setters?’ said coach Darren Lynch, who had had his nerves shredded again as his team stuttered into the final set only to win with some ease once they got there.
There was no indication that the match would last anywhere near as long as 1hr 46min. when Guernsey blitzed into the lead in the first set.
Everything they tried worked and Gibraltar were left stunned.
Carla Martel had another cracking match, her serves forcing Gibraltar into countless hurried defensive mistakes.
There also was powerful spiking from Louise Langlois and Lize-Mari Theron as Gibraltar’s block was regularly and ruthlessly pierced.
The second set was closer, but Guernsey had opened such a lead that a few errors late on did not seem to matter.
Jo Turville was used sparingly as the squad was rotated and she again found some great angles with her spiking at outside hitter as well as leaving areas of her skin on the Diagoras Hall floor with her full-on diving.
Tellingly, those few errors from set two became a flood in sets three and four, however, allowing Gibraltar a way back into the match they barely merited.
It took some serious words from Lynch during time-outs and captain Karen Archenoul on court to spark the Guernsey machine back into life.
With Karen Jehan’s setting finding its mark and Kat Burgess passing precisely, Guernsey rediscovered their form.
A temporary stutter delayed the celebrations by three rallies, but when the winning point came there was an eruption from the Guernsey support in the stands, which was bolstered by the irrepressible and uniquely effervescent GIGA president, Denise Fawcett, and her daughter, Luci.
So it was deserved success for the whole squad. When rotated on, Sarah Biggins was again an effective and committed libero and Lisa Dowinton offered height to the attack and a couple of great blocks to the defence.
It was a shame that Tracey Lewis did not get more court time as she showed several great touches when called upon this week.
The squad can be pleased with all their performances.
Earlier in the day, Guernsey’s men slipped to a disappointing three-set defeat against the old enemy, Jersey.
Possibly showing signs of fatigue after a couple of tough matches, the greens never really hit their rhythm.
The moments to savour were few and far between as Jersey made Guernsey pay for some gaping holes in their defence.
Guernsey played their final match yesterday morning and suffered another defeat, going down to Gibraltar.
Article posted on 7th July, 2007 - 12.00am
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