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Powerful Sheffield prove too strong for York’s Volleyballers

February 17, 2009
Adam Shergold

Photo: Sam Newsome

UNIVERSITY OF YORK WOMEN’S 0 vs. UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD WOMEN’S 3
BUCS Cup (Volleyball) Quarter-final, Sunday 15th February 2009

On paper, this appetising BUCS Cup last eight tie appeared evenly-matched, with York having progressed in leaps and bounds since their last meeting with today’s opponents, a 3-1 away defeat back in November. However, there was one factor nobody counted on: Sheffield’s number one, Stevens-Smith, turned out to be a Great Britain international, and her skilful and powerful game carried the visitors to a straight sets victory. As is so frequently the case in volleyball, the history books – well, the laughably information-light BUCS website – will record a 3-0 result, which doesn’t do York any justice for a characteristically gutsy performance.

York did struggle in the opening exchanges, however. While Sheffield were upbeat and vocal, the hosts were quiet and reserved, with heads inexplicably down, allowing Stevens-Smith to assert herself with some classy smashes. Following a premature, but necessary, timeout, York began to show some resistance. At the cutting edge was Sophie Lawton, who directed a smash along the line to raise spirits, and the impressive Daria Stroukova the epitome of brave in blocking Sheffield’s howitzer smashes. York showed some impressive perseverance in many points, endangering knees and elbows in committed dives, but couldn’t stem the steady flow of points, usually racked up by Stevens-Smith and the fleetingly effective Van Issenbeck. The first set ended 25-12 in Sheffield’s favour.

With the encouragement of Coach Pietro Galli ringing in their ears, York started with determination, Captain Lisa Breitschuh leading the fightback through a combination of net play and accurate serving. However, by this point, Sheffield had the ascendancy and, after clocking up enough points, felt confident, or arrogant, enough to set a target of restricting York to ten points. The situation wasn’t helped by York’s occasional errors on the serve, and Sheffield eased home again by 25-12 to assume a psychologically significant two-set lead.

If the miracle was to occur, it would have to be in the third set and York started brightly once more, Breitschuh marshalling the middle-court to establish a short-lived advantage. However, Sheffield’s international was Captain for a reason and set a glorious example with inch-perfect blasts down the line, building sufficient points to warrant York to call two time-outs. After each one, there were brief glimmers of York’s potential but the optimism was quickly extinguished as Sheffield motored on. At the match-winning moments, Stevens-Smith was again on hand with the finishing touch as the third set, and York’s cup ambitions, were closed out 25-12.

Hopefully, today’s result is only a temporary blip for the women’s team, who have already secured a mid-table finish in their league and will have the opportunity to exact fairly swift revenge when Sheffield visit again next month.

York Line-up: 4. Maiko Uesaki, 14. Annelies Vredeveldt, 10. Lucy Porter, 3. Anastasia Harunova, 5. Sophie Lawton, 6. Lisa Breitschuh (c), 9. Jeanette Chow, 16. Daria Stroukova
Sheffield Line-up: 1. J Stevens-Smith (c), 5. C. Egbusen, 3. A McLean, 4. H. Dodd, 2. E. Bently, 7. L. Day, 8. S. Van Issenbeck