VOLLEYBALL: Cleobury Mortimer women continued their charge for the West Midlands League title with a convincing 3-1 win over Persian Phoenix, inspired by player-of-the-match Frances McMahon.

They cruised to a two-set lead with Clare Jones putting away big winners and Sophie Cooke following suit.

Phoenix edged the third set 25-22 despite accurate serving from Becky Brookes and Lucy Nash.

But Cleobury forced themselves back on track to seal the victory with another 25-22 set.

Jones and Brooks dominated the net, while skipper Katherine Skelhorn rose to the challenge with a series of powerful spikes.

Cleobury lost 3-1 the previous week against Tettenhall Tigers with the star player Danni Hinves.

The National League side are playing in Cambridge and Chelmsford this weekend.

Meanwhile, Cleobury men, hit by illness, gave debuts to new signings Jim Childes and man-of-the-match Adam Bills but lost 3-0 to Wombourne in the West Midlands League.

Regular setter Carl Brookes played out of position in a hitting capacity as they lost the first set 25-16.

Kill blocks and effective striking from Mike Childes, Simon Eades and Mark Fish was not enough to prevent two narrow 25-20, 25-22 defeats in the next two.

In the Hereford and Worcester League, the men took a comfortable last set to beat Worcester College 3-2.

Worcester took advantage of the villagers' slow start to win the opener 25-22 but Cleobury sprinted home in the next 25-13.

Captain Nick Dimarco took control of the back court with Paul Guest and Eades proving powerful at the net.

Worcester stole the third 26-24 but Cleobury levelled the scores again with a 25-11 romp.

They cruised home 15-9 in the decider through steady team passing and powerful net play from Simon Fish among others.

Bills' intelligent distribution and sound attitude earned him another man-of-the-match award.