Trinity Ladies Volleyball clinched a historic league title with two wins this week, beating Santry and Newbridge 3-0 and 3-1 respectively to secure promotion to Volleyball Ireland’s top league, the Premier Division.
With much talk of Arsene Wenger’s 2004 “Invincibles” circulating as he hangs up his spurs this summer, such a moniker does not do justice to this team’s achievements. Not only did they finish the season unbeaten, they won all 12 of their league games in the process.
On Thursday, Trinity faced third-place Santry and got off to a comfortable start with a 25-10 win in the first set, thanks to solid defensive work from Alicia Green and a great run of serves from captain Ruth Healy. Santry rallied in the second set and kept pace with Trinity until a timeout was called by Trinity at 7-7. Some powerful athleticism from Heyley Chan helped Trinity pull away to win a close set 25-19.
With both teams tiring in the sweltering crucible that is Santry’s sports hall, the final set was a more laboured affair. Trinity showed their professionalism and confined Santry to just 12 points by continually blocking them off at the net. After 11 wins from 11, all eyes turned to Saturday and the final game of the season away to Newbridge Panthers.
With Newbridge languishing at the bottom of the table with one win, Trinity perhaps saw this game as a foregone conclusion and were punished for their complacency, losing the first set 25-22, only the fourth set they have dropped all season. However, the visitors dusted themselves off and re-discovered their ruthless form, winning the second set 25-4. This included a stunning 21 consecutive points on Marta Horcajo’s serve. There was to be no let-up as Trinity seized their chance at history with strong performances from Esther Robledo Godoy and Stacey Nevin helping them to victories in the final two sets by scores of 25-10 and 25-14.
With a perfect league season complete, Trinity have two more pieces of silverware to be won. The final of the National Championships against Munster Thunder and the final of the Association Shield against Galway, both next week.
Whatever happens, such success speaks for itself and this year’s promotion-winning side will go down as one of the most successful Trinity teams in any sport this year.
