Disappointing loss for US against Armixtos

VoV, 29-11-2023. 6:23 uur. The ladies of US faced off against Armixtos in the Amstelcampus this past Saturday in a true Amsterdam derby. Excitement was high for the match, but unfortunately US fell short and lost to Armixtos in four sets with scores of 25-21, 19-25, 15- 25, and 23-25.

Head coach Chris had 14 healthy players for one of the first times this season and started the match with Sophie, Kiki, Saskia, Anouk, Maaike, and Izzy, with Marscha at libero. The first set started rocky for US with a series of strong serves coming from Armixtos’ Meghan Koop to start the set at 0-6. After breaking the run, US managed to tie up the set at 10-10 with an ace from Kiki and kept with the momentum in the second half, finishing up at 25-21 with a block from Sophie.

Set 2 started strong with an ace from Anouk but soon ran away. Armixtos would not let any balls touch the ground and a strong serve combined with a consistent attack put Armixtos in the drivers seat.  Too many errors on the side of US ended up with Armixtos taking the 2nd and 3rd with 19-25 and 15-25.

In the fourth set, the energy was back with US and the ladies fought for the win, Sophie starting the set with a kill.  The match stayed even in the first half with the score tied at 13-13. However, Armixtos took the lead in the second half and did not let it go. In the end the score was at 19-24, giving Armixtos five opportunities at match point.

A kill block from Sophie gave US control and in the last points of the match, Floor came in for the serve. These were her first moments in a competition match after a broken hand in the preparation took her out for a few months. With strong serving from Floor, a block from Aike and another block from Kirsten brought back the hope to US with the score at 23-24. Unfortunately a service error ended the set at 23-25 and the match at 3-1.

Throughout the match, Chris utilised his substitutions, brining Anneke and Fleur in for the double sub, as well as Aike in on middle and Kirsten on the outside. Team captain Sophie was the big performer of the match at diagonal, scoring 16 kills and two blocks. Middle blocker Maaike also had a strong night adding eight kills and four blocks to the tally.

While this marks another disappointing loss for US, the team is still working hard and optimistic about the season to come. Next week they face off in Groningen against Donitas for the 3rd round of the cup! See you there?

gh @ VoV, verslag door #11 Isabel Kuhel aka Izzy. US Amsterdam. Foto John  van Geenen.