Despite a good performance: Volley Toggenburg loses 0:3 against the reigning champions

Volley Toggenburg didn’t have an easy task at the start of the second half of the season. On Saturday at 5 p.m. the match against league leaders Viteos NUC from Neuchâtel took place in the Rietsteinhalle in Wattwil. The Neuchâtel women relied on their regular players right from the start. Nevertheless, the Wattwil team got off to a better start and benefited from numerous mistakes by NUC.

However, as the set continued, the favorites got better into the game and increased the pace. Raiffeisen Volley Toggenburg was unable to find a solution throughout the game, especially against the quick attacks through the middle. Although the Wattwil women tried to defend themselves as best they could, the first set went to NUC 25:19.

The second set started evenly, the rallies became more competitive. But the longer the game lasted, the more Wattwil’s attacks got stuck in NUC’s strong blocks. The Neuchâtel girls consistently exploited their size advantages and were always in the lead throughout the entire set.

However, when the score was 20:18 for the Neuchâtel women, Canada’s Savannah Purdy had her moment. The Canadian outside attacker scored no less than 5 points in the ranks of the home team and once again caused excitement in the second set. But unfortunately there was still the dreaded block from NUC, which decided set 2 to a narrow 27:25.

The favorite shows hardly any weaknesses in the third set

The fact that the first two sets took energy became apparent at the beginning of the third set, especially with Volley Toggenburg. NUC took the lead to 12:4 and subsequently contented itself with managing the lead. Although Volley Toggenburg was able to recover after an energetic time-out by coach Mäsi Erni, the burden of the start of the set was too heavy. Set 3 also went to the favorites with 25:19.

Volley Toggenburg kept up well with Viteos NUC for long stretches, but they were mostly at a losing position against the offensive qualities of Neuchâtel. Center player Jasmine Gross took advantage of practically every chance, and in Tessa Grubbs the Neuchâtel women already had the strongest player in the NLA in their ranks. Seen from this point of view, the defeat against the strong Viteos NUC is bearable.

Next Sunday against the Academy from Zurich, the Wattwil women will face an opponent who should actually be within reach.