Cleobury 3

Malmesbury Mavericks 0

Cleobury Ladies kicked off their double-header Women's National League Division 2 volleyball weekend against Malmesbury Mavericks by starting the first set with an amazing short attack from Clare Jones.

Cleobury pulled away with excellent serving from Eva Mort and Becky Brookes and superb crossover runs by Ellie White resulting in an amazing final first set score of 25-12.

Malmesbury began the second set well building up a 3-0 lead but Cleobury shot them down with excellent attacking play from Eva Mort down the wing. The opposition didn't have any answer and Cleo-bury managed to build up a convincing lead. Katherine Howells came on for her second league appearance and Cleobury took the set 25-10.

The third set started slow with Mavericks keeping the lead all the way to 18-17, but with an excellent short hit from Lyndsey Rankin down the middle, Mavericks had no answer as Cleobury stepped up and defended everything they had to give. Soon Cleo-bury were 20-19 ahead and Sophie Cook served well for the last five points to enable Cleobury to take the set 25-20.

Overall this was the best team performance Cleobury has displayed this season and it showed in the result. Clare Jones picked up the 'player of the day' award for her superb attacking skills.

Cleobury 3 Devon 0

Cleobury looked to continue where they left off the day before and keep their unbeaten start to the season intact taking an early 3-0 lead against a team which who also won the previous day.

However, the lead was short lived as Devon came back winning the next six points. Although they weren't playing particularly well, excellent hitting from Clare Jones and Sophie Cook enabled Cleobury to take the first set 25-21.

The second set started slow, Cleobury again saw Devon take a 6-2 lead after some poor serve-receive, but after a time-out by coach Carl Brookes Cleobury raised the level of play and began to build a comfortable lead. Captain Lyndsey Rankin took command to hit some excellent middle attacks, backed up by consistent serving from Eva Mort and Sophie Cook, thus enabling Cleobury to cruise the second set 25-17.

But disaster struck during the first rally of the third set. Setter Becky Brookes pulled up as she tried to get back into position and was unable to continue. It meant two of Cleobury's players had to play out of position and the team knew they had to pull together.

Katherine Howells took everything in her stride with nine winning points on her serve and followed up diving full length for an unbelievable pick-up to win an astonishing point. Cleobury to took the set 25-21.

Sophie Cook was 'player of the day' with some excellent hitting and a solid serving display.