Birmingham were looking to build upon their impressive 3-2 win against Warwick last week as they faced Oxford at the Munrow Sports Hall.
Oxford began the first set strongly with their number 20 serving well to build a big lead of 12-6, before Lambert Chang won Birmingham their seventh point. This proved to be a pivotal point in the set as Chang served Birmingham back into the game, pulling the score back level to 12-12, but they were also helped by some sloppy Oxford decision making, which led to them calling a time out. Birmingham opened up a two-point lead after the time out and to Oxford’s credit, they kept up and equalised, bringing the score to 25-25. The Birmingham captain then served well to win Birmingham the opening set 27-25.
Oxford came out of the blocks strongly, defending well and winning points off blocking. A combination of good serving from their number 11 and powerful spiking from the number 2 opened up a huge seven-point lead early on. Birmingham pulled their way back slightly, but the lead was too large for Oxford to choke again and they took the set 25-12.
The momentum was with Oxford and they continued to play with an organised and disciplined manner.
A tight start to the set saw both teams grapple for control and Birmingham certainly showed some fighting spirit, but some accurate serving by the Oxford number 4 and some more deadly spiking by the number 2 took the set away from Birmingham, as Oxford won it again 25-21.
The fourth set proved to be the final set as Oxford asserted their dominance over the game. They took it 25-17, a score line which certainly flattered Birmingham. They had no answer to Oxford’s power and the visitors were comfortably the better side throughout the match, and they deserved to win the game.
