Rotovegas Volleyball Club's women's team overcame a first set loss and a fourth set blip to win their opening match in the second division of the national club volleyball championships in Nelson.
Facing a well-drilled NZ Defence Forces side, Rotovegas made a nervous start, with some erratic passing and hittingensuring they were always behind in the first set.
A dramatically-reduced error rate in the second set helped the Rotorua club's strike weapons Maureen Malcolm and Melissa Ruru dominate the opposition at the net.
Malcolm's unorthodox hitting style proved hard for the NZDF blockers to read, and her flat, hard serves were equally difficult to return as Rotovegas comfortably won the next two sets.
National beach volleyball representative Melissa Ruru was equally unstoppable with her open side spiking when the team were able to deliver good sets to her, helping the team grow in confidence over the rest of the games.
Surprisingly, after starting the fourth set in the same vein, Rotovegas dropped their concentration two-thirds of the way through, and dropped the set 25-27. They comfortably won a tie-breaker fifth set.
Manager Melissa Gordon said the team had "played well in patches, but lacked concentration at times".
"We'll work on playing hard out for the whole match in future," she added.
