UCD play well but come second to strong UCC volleyball teams
By Clement Calvino and Orla Lynch | Nov 22 2018
The UCD Sports Centre played host to 250 players and coaches from 24 colleges across Ireland over the weekend, when the college held the 2018-2019 Irish Volleyball Intervarsities tournament. The events took place from Friday 16th - Sunday 18th November. University College Cork (UCC) triumphed over the weekends events and will be sending both teams to England to compete in the new year.The UCD women’s team put in a spectacular display throughout the entire weekend. Friday, they finished top of their pool after great finishes over CIT, ITC, DIT. Saturday saw them successfully sail into the Cup semi-finals after some amazing all round team effort against UU and TCD.Over the entire weekend, 15 girls represented UCD in a stunning team effort. The team had some returnees but it was predominantly a new group and they all gelled together so well, getting to the semi-final was no surprise after brilliant play from the team. Having lost a set the previous day to their rivals, UCD women’s team gained a strong 2-0 victory over DIT in the semi-final, clearly showing the team were improving by leaps and bounds! The final was setting up to be a serious challenge with an extremely experienced UCC team standing in the way of UCD heading to Norwich in February. The girls prepped themselves for a battle. The girls put up an amazing fight but the UCC team were just in a league of their own and won the final 3-0. UCD gave it their heart and soul but were really outclassed by a superb all round Cork team.The men’s team performed at a very good standard, improving their skill and team play after each game. After an intense semi-final against AIT, they managed to win their place for the final to face the favourite and defending champion of this tournament: UCC. The final was even more intense as UCC was led by an amazing setter, awarded both “Best Setter” and “MVP”, putting UCD through a lot of struggle. The first set was won by our team, but UCC eventually won the next 3 sets and defended their title! Well done to them, and well done to our boys who fought all they could during this exhausting final! A special mention to two of our players that were awarded as well: Anselm Bareis for “Best Outside” and Mateusz Olszewski for “Best Libero”. It truly was a successful weekend all round with a lot of new talent for UCD in the future.Special thanks to our organizing committee, all members and players with the club: Ruth Lohrke, Christina Durst, Orly Lynch, Ramona Rehfuß, Eduardo Morais, Maeusz Olszewski, Sarah Escalante and Emily Frazell. Here is a full summary of the results:Men
1) UCC2) UCD3) AIT4) TCD
Plate:
1) NUIG2) QUB3) CIT4) DIT5) ITC & GMIT7) DCU8) ITT
Women
1) UCC2) UCD3) TCD4) DIT
Plate:
1) CIT2) DCU3) UU4) NUIG5) RCSI & AIT7) ITT8) ITC