EVL (Norwich) Sunday 13th November - Results table available as Excel spreadsheet
Fantastic day! The team played really brilliantly, learned a new setting system, and won 3 out of 4 games convincingly. 4th game we only lost by 10 points and were thrown by a long wait for the last game. It was a truly stunning performance and we should be way up the table for the next leg in January.
- Bob
Hatfield win first match!
Hatfield won their first match convincingly (3-0) in a really enjoyable game on Saturday 15th at home. We all really enjoyed it, everybody got a game and apart from a loose second set which we still pulled back, I think it fair to say we dominated the match. Player of the match awarded to the whole team who played absolutely brilliantly for their first match. Thanks to Harriers Hawks for a very friendly and enjoyable match.
- Bob
Hatfield through to second round of knockout cup!
On Saturday 19th December in our first ever season, we beat Vale Volleyers 3-0 at home. It was a really close match all the way through, with us having to claw our way back quite a few times (including after having had 3 points taken away for a rotation fault!). Everybody kept their heads and rallied together and we won through in what we're told was a really exciting game to watch. Player of the match goes to Szabi for solid hitting and a stunning off-court-other-side-of-the-net-get, as well as Olga for keeping her nerve and producing a superb match point ace! Thanks to Carl for superb coaching, and I think we also need a special mention for Zsanni whose enthusiastic support from the side really raised our game and is hereby appointed supporters' captain! Thanks to Vale for a very tight game, and to Enfield for providing extremely competent independent referees - much appreciated guys.
On to Welwyn in the second round.......
- Bob
Hatfield win 3-0 against Watford
Hatfield took their third victory in a row after a very close battle against Watford on Saturday 26th November. Fairly easy start, thanks to Szabi`s service, ensured the lead for us in the first set, however this didn`t last very long and Watford managed to come back straight away. All three sets were really close and there was no clear winner of the set until the last point scored. To gain a point was really difficult especially as the Watford blockers and covering were working extremely well, and that proved a real challenge for us. Luckily, everybody managed to stay calm and we didn`t let the opponents take a set. Despite a few points thrown away and not feeling as relaxed as last time, we proved that we can win if we have the match under control. And this was exactly what we did towards the end of each set – we took the ball under control and finished the set. Nobody dominated on the court, both teams worked extremely hard for each single point and brilliant pick ups and blocks from both sides produced long rallies throughout the whole match. Well done to everybody and thanks to Watford for challenging us and making us play better.
- Olga
Hatfield lose 0-3 to Vale
Vale Volleyers took advantage of a lack of confidence in our team and beat us 3 - 0 on Saturday 3 December. They came with an absolute determination to win this game as we beat them 2 weeks ago and their eagerness for revenge couldn’t have been greater. The beginning of the game was fairly close but we didn’t concentrate very well and lost the first set by a few points. The second set was a bit of an experiment as we decided to make a rotation change but unfortunately this didn’t work in our favour and we lost confidence and produced many unforced errors and lost too many points. The second set was a free gift for Vale, but we still managed to come back in the third, mainly thanks to Marco's support and encouragement from the sidelines (thanks Marco!). The third set was very tight and could've gone either way, but despite saving two match points we lost 28-26. Vale were well organised on the court and we made it easier for them by making simple mistakes. It was a good lesson and next time we'll know that if we can just forget about mistakes made and points lost and regain our confidence and team spirit then we can raise our game by miles and come storming back. Let's get back on the winning streak!
- Olga and Bob
Hatfield win 3-1 against Harriers Hawks
Bob's comment from the last match was to encourage us to get back in the saddle and that’s exactly what Hatfield did away to Harriers Hawks. After checking the colour of the lines we were playing to, Hatfield strode into the first set and led from the start. With Marco supporting and guiding from the side, and the new rotation slowly sinking in, the team went back to communicating well and keeping the game tight and simple, a tactic that has worked so well for us. High sets and some great hitting kept the score ticking over, and a great all round performance from Roy (serving, digging and hitting) wrapped the first set up quickly. Set 2 was tighter and allowed Harriers to level the score - we just didn’t repeat the composed play from the first set and we paid the price too often. Digging was too low, and finishing not sharp enough. Set 3 was back to normal service - great commitment all round and consistent hitting from Szabi led to an early lead. The team really came together in this set, few balls were not followed up and support was there in spades. Serving was consistent and Sylvester’s serve seemed to bamboozle harriers time and time again. Set 4 was wrapped up in double quick time - Richard's opening serves were sensational and put us 10-0 up in quick time. Hatfield only made 5 rotations to finish the match - a tribute to great consistent play, finishing and teamwork. Hatfield back on winning ways! Let's not forget the Hawks though - it's always a pleasure to play you guys, and we hope to see you for more friendlies in the future, you're always welcome.
My man of the match…Roy – great play across all 4 sets. Lots of points won on his serve, and good blocking and hitting when required. Also some good sets getting the ball right where it needed to be.
- Iain
Welwyn win 3-1 against Harriers Jets
Only 7 just, thanks for Stu who turned up unexpected! and Tim who was second reffing as well ( but new kit on ready to play). What a match! Won the first set comfortably (well it felt like that to me). Fantastic pick up's and loads of noise!! Everyone played brilliantly. Great sports hall and we made the most of it, brilliant setting by Steve (makes a change), and Marco as always played phenomenal. Second set felt as good as the first and it looked like we would be in the pub early! Harriers won the third set, maybe we were just enjoying ourselves too much - they were a good team and it looked like we could have gone to 5 sets at that point! But Marco reshuffled the line up and what a stonking 4th set - we wiped the floor with them.
Thanks to our supporter Sarah on the bench! and Tim for being on the court at any moment as well as the responsibility of second reffing!
Man of the Match ''The Italian Stallion himself MARCO''.
Well done to the whole team!!!!!
BRING ON HATFIELD (Ha! She'll be lucky - webmaster)
- Lynne
Hatfield win 3-0 against RSS
The usual cold hall greeted us on Sunday night, but we were prepared (well, Roy had thermals apparently, and I'm fairly convinced Laurence warmed up in a wetsuit.....but perhaps that was my imagination....). Anyway, first set saw Hatfield playing really well and very cohesively as a team, though the score was frighteningly and unexpectedly close at 25-22. Second set more reflected the balance of the teams I think, with Hatfield winning by a fairly hefty margin. Our girls set really well - welcome back to Olga, particularly with her devastating new serve. Laurence too served well and won a couple of good points with some sneaky short ones.
Third set saw a change of half the squad, with 2 new setters (Phil & Sylvester) and Iain replacing me at middle. It was pretty hard for them to come on cold, but after their hands had defrosted they kept up the good work and finished the match solidly for us. A fab dig from Phil off an almost certain Szabi-style winning hit was particularly impressive. Mentioning Szabi, as always he and Richard provided us with most of our finishing hits, ably supported by everybody with good, controlled pickups and accurate sets.
Well done everybody - good concentration and great individual work on getting our pickups, sets and serves more controlled.
- Bob
- Carl
Hatfield lose 1-3 against Vale
Well, I didn't think anywhere could be as cold as RSS, but RAF Halton came pretty close. Security status "Bikini" was obviously some sort of in-joke. Anyway, we started pretty cold and nervous and lost first set convincingly, but boy did we change after that. We just started believing in ourselves and kept fighting back. Some really long, cool and controlled rallies that we rightly won. Vale are a hard team to take on with players in unfamiliar positions (well done Phil and Sylvester). We lost a lot of points to dumps behind 4 just after we'd got used to dumps behind 2 last week at RSS - us middle players have got to learn to learn quicker!
Still, a performance to be proud of I think - well done everybody and my person of the match goes once again to the whole team for our team spirit - it really showed and we just kept coming back. Keep it up guys!
Welwyn win 3-0 against Vale
Welwyn won in an amazing 0-3 game at Vale, possibly one of our best gamesever! Man of the Match is a close call, Lynne did an amazing diving pick up, but think Steve deserves it since we were losing the second set 23-12 when he began serving and ultimately we won it 23-25 - a truly outstanding team effort backed up by cool serving under pressure!
