Heat Women Scorch Phoenix

The Canberra Heat, fre3sh from a confidence-building win last week, welcomed the travelling NSW Phoenix to the national capital but started slowly in the first set. Trailing initially, some smart play at the net during their powerplays by Jaiha Birkett took Heat to a 15-11 lead, and then on to an 18-13 victory.

The second set was again close initially, with Lacey Bruce leading the way for the Phoenix. However, Holly Mallet made a number of big swings to power the Heat to a 18-13 win in the second set.

Set three was a close affair with Sameera Moon and Bruce keeping NSW close, while for Canberra some excellent play from Middles Josephine Foster and Birkett kept the Heat in front before they claimed the sudden death point and the set 18-17. 

NSW were deflated after such a close set and didn’t recover, while Canberra put the foot on the peddle to take out the fourth set 18-7 and the fifth 18-14 for a 5-0 win and an important bonus point. Holly Mallet had an impressive 16 points for the Heat, including 4 aces, with 8 kills from 11 attacks for the night.