Blaze suffer a narrow loss to QUB students

BALLYMONEY BLAZE 2

Ballymoney Blaze travelled to Belfast to play in what turned out to be a challenging match against the strong opposition of Queen’s University II.

With the absence of some key players from Ballymoney’s side, Blaze had some trouble in the first set, taking some strong serves from the opposition.

Despite some strong hits from Zara Bolton and dominating blocks from middle Ellen Yates, the match began with Queen’s taking the upper hand and winning the first set 25-19.

Ballymoney started to build some confidence and got back into the swing of things, displaying further strong hitting from captain Ellen Monteith and improving in serve receive.

Unfortunately, Blaze narrowly lost the second set to Queen’s with a score of 25-23.

Things seemed to be picking up for the Ballymoney side as the performed powerfully and crawled back to win the third set with a score of 25-22.

It was now evident that Blaze had an opportunity to win this match which spurred the team on.

They dominated the next set with on court enthusiasm from setter Megan de Jode. Blaze emerged from the set with a set score of 25-20.

The final set put the heat in for both teams with strong blocking from middles and powerful hits from the outsides, especially M.V.P. Zara Bolton.

Unfortunately, Queen’s took the fifth set and ultimately the match with a score of 15-9.

Thanks to all players and coaches from each team.