WEYMOUTH Ladies reformed at the weekend to play in one of the most prestigious tournaments for National League squads.

The team travelled to Ashcombe School in Dorking to play against the hosts, Portsmouth, Guildford and Surrey Orcas.

Weymouth did not let themselves down and finished in a creditable third place with the top-three teams only being separated by sets difference.

In their first match, the seasiders started well, going into a 3-0 lead against Surrey Orcas.

At 5-2, however, Weymouth’s Marta Cerri suffered a serious ankle injury, which was initially feared to have been a fracture.

With Cerri on her way to hospital, Weymouth had to regroup and continue play. Concentration had been compromised though and the squad quickly lost the next three sets.

The tournament format dictated that all five sets of the match would be played and Weymouth finally started to rally – clawing their way back to a 3-2 reversal.

In their next outing, Weymouth were up against Guildford and this time there was no stopping the former.

With heaps of aggression, Rossana LoGuidice and Ramona Dienel took their opponents’ block apart to storm through the first two sets 25-22 and 25-12 respectively.

The third was also won before Guildford staged a comeback to take the fourth 25-17.

The fifth set was nip and tuck with neither team gaining a significant advantage. The middle blocking partnership of Carly Lane and Claire Greenwood held firm though, shutting out Guildford, and the seasiders finally closed out 18-16 to take the match four sets to one.

Day two started early against Portsmouth, who have recently been promoted to the Super 8s – the equivalent of football’s Premier League.

Weymouth remained unfazed though and despite losing the first three sets 25-23, 25-21, 25-19, produced a brilliant fight back to keep themselves in the tournament.

Set four was won 25-19 with some brilliant line hitting from Becky Gymer and LoGuidice and set five saw Portsmouth fall apart with Weymouth recording a 15-5 thrashing.

The final match against Ashcombe saw both sides looking tired with 15 sets behind them.

Weymouth, needing to record a 5-0 whitewash in order to win the tournament, got off to an excellent start and took the opening set 25-16.

Ashcombe recovered in the second though, with the powerful Hannah Carey leading them to a 25-17 verdict.

Weymouth took the third 25-11 but the fourth went to the home side, 25-13.

The break between sets allowed Weymouth’s coaching team to reorganise their defensive line-up in a bid to combat the Ashcombe serve.

And the move paid off as the seasiders totally dominated the final set with a 15-5 win.

Tournament rankings: 1 Surrey Orcas 15pts, 2 Portsmouth 13pts, 3 Weymouth 11pts, 4 Guildford 6pts, 5 Ashcombe 5pts.

Weymouth: Chee Cubillos, Ramona Dienel, Nicola Schmidt, Claire Greenwood, Carly Lane, Karen Rossi, Marta Cerri, Rossana LoGuidice, Becky Gymer.