Northumbria Edged Out In Thriller

David Goodchild has paid tribute to the Team Durham side that ended Team Northumbria’s five-year reign as the undisputed queens of British volleyball.

A tense North East derby played out at Kettering’s National Volleyball Centre saw Durham take the two-legged Super 8s playoff final 3-2, 3-2.

And a disappointed Goodchild admitted Northumbria have finally met their match after dominating the domestic game.

“In my opinion we were underdogs going into the weekend,” he said. “Player for player Durham are better than we are. Everybody can see that and everybody knows that.

“However, what we have is a very structured and effective game plan. In many respects we executed it well in the final.

“There were times when we took them apart and times when they took us apart. It was always going to be a battle.

“I’ve always said that Durham and Northumbria are two of the best women’s teams this country has ever seen.

“For both matches to finish 3-2 - and for there to be just two points between the two teams in the deciding sets - shows just how competitive the final was.”

TN went into the final without the influential Paige Wheeler after the American libero lost her fitness battle on Thursdsay.

And Goodchild was forced into a late reshuffle with the 2017 final just 48 hours away.

“We suffered a massive blow going into the match when we lost Paige,” he added. “That meant we had to switch Magda Ropiak to libero and we lost a great hitter as a result.

“However, we dealt with it. Magda was brilliant all weekend.

“Could we have won both legs of the final? Yes. We just can’t afford to make mistakes - and not take our opportunities - against a team of Durham’s quality.

“Steph Holthus and Cat Dailey have proved to be the two best players in British volleyball this season and they were outstanding again in the final for Durham. However, Whitney Phillips outshone both of them.”

Phillips and Ropiak are two of 10 players set to leave British volleyball’s most successful programme this summer.

And Goodchild added: “They’ve been the making of our programme. Whitney played the two best games of her Northumbria career in the final against Durham and didn’t deserve to lose but that just shows how good the opposition were.

“We’ve been the best team in this country for the last six years but we just couldn’t get over the line this time.”