TENDRING Volleyball Club's women's team had a double-header of Super 8s matches.

The first was a tough contest against Team Northumbria and, although they lost 3-1, it was another positive step in the right direction for the Frinton side.

Tendring came out of the blocks quickly and started strongly, with solid passing from Fernanda Guimaraes, Millie Stamp and Fran-Smith Daye.

They caught their hosts off-guard and used the ball slightly better in transition, creating pressure and scoring points.

With some block kills by Karis Watson and Chaniel Nelson, Tendring were ahead at the second technical time-out and thanks to some level-headed play from setter Molly Van Essen, the team moved up a gear and pulled away from the strong Northumbria team.

With Chaniel serving on set point, Van Essen got the kill block to take the set 25-22.

Northumbria managed to claw their way back and they were soon in the driving seat, applying strong service pressure.

Tendring were unable to cope and strong offence from the hosts' middles and opposite hitter enabled them to stay ahead.

Tendring managed to produce some positive service runs through good block defence and out of system play.

However, it was never enough to gain the lead and they were always trailing in the sets to come, eventually losing 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 15-25, 18-25).

For the second time this season, the MVP was awarded to Stamp.

The following day, Tendring travelled to City of Salford.

The girls started how they finished the game before.

Tired legs and the long journey took its toll and they were slow out of the blocks.

With errors playing a big part in the first set, momentum was never gained and points were gifted.

However, their serve reception unit helped them run a solid offence and good block defence allowed them to clinch a tight first set 25-23, despite being 23-22 down.

Guimaraes started the second set with a bang, racking up points with some strong and tough serves, helping the team to an 8-1 lead.

More positivity from Sarah Edwards, Smith-Daye and Amelia Smith helped Tendring keep a firm grasp of the set and enabled them to keep the lead throughout and they took it 25-16.

The final set again went again the way of Tendring, mainly thanks to some brilliant service runs started by Smith and Van Essen.

Tendring were able to maintain the advantage throughout and they eventually ran out 3-0 winners, taking the third set 25-18.

The MVP was awarded to Nelson.