Saints extinguish Cup hopes again, for ladies side

The ladies had a tough game as they took on the students from St Andrew’s University.  The students extinguished Dundee’s hopes last season on their way to the National Final and were strong enough to cause damage to the smaller home side.  The Saints had height and power on their side but great defence and smart counter attacks kept the home side in the game.  6/14 down in the opening set became 10/14 as Natalia Stopowska scored 2 aces and a score ‘block’ at the net from Lucy Wishart and Lana Edgar reduced the deficit.  Both sides then traded point-for-point with Agnes Bednarek, Sarah Driscoll and Natalia Stopowska all scoring for Dundee.  They could not close the gap and the students took the set 25/20.

The second set was a desperate battle as both side scored runs of points and the lead changed hands several times.  Sarah Driscoll hit a ‘purple patch’ and scored 4 points in a row Natalia Stopowska then added 3 to keep the score close at 14/17.  Lucy Wishart then caused chaos in the visitors defence with a run of 6 points on the back of her service.  This included 2 aces and forced the visitors into 4 hitting errors.  The game was 21/19 in the home side’s favour as both sides scored points to tie at 23/23.  Big serves from the Saints forced Dundee into weak attacks and they countered with 2 hits to win the set 25/23 for a 2/0.

There was nothing ‘left in the tank’ for the third set and there were only 2 scores from Claire Pollock to show as the students cruised to a 25/7 win and a 3/0 victory.