Uni Blues’ Erin Ross smashes a spike past the WA Pearls in the Blues upset 3-2 set victory on Saturday. 66989
By Jarrod Potter
UNI BLUES, the Victorian women’s volleyball team, swept their round one fixture in the Women’s Australian Volleyball League, held at the State Volleyball Centre over the weekend.
The Uni Blues won their four matches, including two shut-outs against the Canberra Heat and South Australia. The Blues had to fight a bit harder against UTSSU (University of Sydney) on Friday night, with Sydney taking the first set 25-20.
However, the Blues then rallied. Despite an injury to libero Kat Chen, sustained in the first set, the Blues were able to take the next three sets comfortably, with Rhiannon Watt and Liane Fenwick raining down spikes all over Sydney.
The game of the round was the 2010 grand final rematch between the Uni Blues and the Western Australia Pearls, with the lead going back and forth as each side took two sets. Good groundwork from libero Jess McMillan and Watt kept the Blues in the hunt as the match went into the fifth and deciding set.
The Pearls had the jump on the Uni Blues in the tie-breaker, jumping out to a 12-9 lead, with the match in their sights, before the Uni Blues clawed their way back with three successive points. At 14-13, the Pearls had the first match point, before a spike from Erin Ross brought it back to level pegging.
Three more match points were saved, one through a massive spike off the hand of Uni Blues’ Lena Skipper, before the Uni Blues managed to eke out the hard-fought victory, winning the set 19-17 (first to 15 in volleyball tie-breakers). Uni Blues captain Watt said beating the Pearls was a great victory since they had not beaten them since 2008.
“We’ve been up the top for a very long time, but haven’t had a grand final win in four years, so that’s a bit disappointing.
“They’ve beaten us in the last two grand finals, so it’s good to finally win against the Pearls,” Watt said.
The AVL next heads to South Australia for the second round on 22-24 July.
The AVLfinals series will be held in Perth on 20 and 21 August.
