Guernsey Press

Saaremaa 'machines' show awesome power

'THEY breed them like machines.'

Published

That was Jennifer Lindfield's assessment of the Saaremaa line-up her Guernsey side had just faced yesterday morning at the Ishall on the outskirts of Visby.

Virtually all of the opponents were young, athletic six-footers and some of the volleyball they put together emphasised just why they have enjoyed success at Island Games in recent times.

Hardly surprisingly, Guernsey looked more than a little overawed in the first set, with some of the hitting through the middle from Eliisa Peit particularly fearsome.

For one brief moment, the lights went out in the venue immediately after she had found her intended target with another hard smash and you wondered whether her power was just too much for the electrics in the ice hockey arena, as well as the opposition.

But having won the fourth point of the match, the Sarnians endured a long spell under the cosh as they conceded 15 points in succession on the way to losing the first set 25-5.

The second set was a completely different story, though.

Guernsey took to the court and starting combining well in attack and forcing far more errors from Saaremaa in defence.

The set went virtually point for point up to 10-all with the experienced members of the side such as Lindfield, Sarah Biggins and Carla Marley playing a huge part in helping the more inexperienced players come to terms with the task in hand.

Although Saaremaa went on to take the set 25-16, they knew they had been made to work hard for it and, having received a few stern words from their coach, they were in ruthless mood in the third.

They began the set with 16 unanswered points against a Guernsey side who were now using their bench as much as possible and allowing the experienced players a rest.

The Sarnians managed to get on the board, but had no answer to the power on the other side of the net as Saaremaa wrapped up the set and the match 25-3.

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