Stirling University Volleyball Club takes home a double victory as both teams pass on to the next round of the Scottish Student Sport Cup.
Over fifteen volleyball teams participated in the ‘Triple S’ tournament last Sunday, February 5th, in Dundee and Stirling, but only eight will now continue onto the next round; two of which are Stirling’s Women’s and Men’s first teams.
Each ‘mini-match’ was played to two sets of 21 points for the women, and 1 set of 30 points for the men to allow everyone a fair playing time for the full day.
Playing at home in Stirling, the men’s team played a strong four consecutive matches, only losing one set to the University of Edinburgh but winning the other three, immediately qualifying to move on to the next round.
In Dundee, the women struggled to start off on the right foot, losing their first two matches to the University of Strathclyde and St. Andrews, although both were close in points. They redeemed themselves in the second half of the day, as they played the University of Aberdeen 1s, winning two sets of 21-13 and 21-5. This proved to be a very satisfying win considering their previous loss to the team in the National Trophy the week prior.
“Our defense struggled significantly at the start of the tournament,” says the women’s team libero, Barbara Piseroni, “but we put our everything into the last two games and managed to play through to the semifinals. I’m so glad that we didn’t let our first two losses affect our playing – instead, we came out stronger.”
The final scores for the men’s cup were announced at the end of the tournament, with Edinburgh University leading in first and Stirling as a close second for the first pool. In pool 2, the University of St. Andrews and Heriot-Watt University are also moving forward.
‘I think we communicated and supported each other better than at any point in this season and everyone was pulling for everyone else,” says men’s team opposite hitter Ronan Kelly who has just recently recovered from an ankle injury.
The final scores for the women’s cup also proved successful, with the University of St. Andrews leading first with four straight victories and Stirling coming in second place after beating the third-place team, Aberdeen. In the second pool, the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University are moving forward.
“I am so very proud of us all. Even though we had a very rocky start, we managed to come together as a team and give it our all” says women’s captain, Julianne Deguara.
Both teams will be continuing to the next round of the SSS cup next weekend, Sunday, February 12th at the Dundee Institute of Sport and Exercise for their semifinals. The women’s team will be facing the University of Edinburgh and the men’s team will be up against the University of St. Andrews.
If both teams win, moving forward to the finals, that same day Stirling will be having two team finalists in the SSS cup for the first time in many years, hoping to bring back gold medals and an engraved plate.
More information on the SSS cup can be found on the Scottish Student Volleyball Facebook and Instagram at @Scotsuvolleyball, and you can find more updates about the Stirling University Volleyball Club on their Facebook and Instagram at @stiruni_volleyball.
Featured Image Credit: Gerry Macdonald
Aspiring Journalist
Fourth-year Journalism Student and Sports Editor of BRIG Newspaper at Stirling University
