Summary
Stirling Volleyball's BUCS debut almost brings home a double victory, with a great win for the women's team and a five-set loss for the men.
The first games of the new BUCS competitive season almost brought home a double win for the Stirling University Volleyball Club on Sunday, October 8.
The women’s team secured their first victory against the University of Aberdeen. The men’s team lost in five sets after a long fight against the University of Strathclyde.
The tournament started well for the girls. They easily took on Aberdeen winning in three sets their first game of the year.
Stirling took the lead from the beginning of the game. Despite their best efforts, the opponents never managed to gain an advantage.
A bad knee injury on Aberdeen’s side during the second set forced the team to take one of their most experienced players out, a change that had a big impact on the rest of the game.
This victory was what our women’s team needed to boost up morale for the upcoming season, that won’t be an easy one with teams like Glasgow, Edinburgh and St. Andrews in the league.
Many new faces made their first appearance on Sunday wearing Stirling colours, and some old players took on different positions.
“Coaching a game is a totally different story than being on the court and play” said former libero and current coach Barbara Piseroni.
“I was nervous during the warm up, maybe scared I was going to make the wrong calls. Now I can say that I am very happy with the result we achieved on Sunday. It is for sure a great kick off for the girls and for me.”
The men’s team, on the other hand, faced a bittersweet ending against their rivals from Strathclyde.
After winning the first set, the boys could not keep their advantage and lost the second and third one. Their hopes went up again when they secured the fourth set with an eight-point difference. However, the final tie-break saw Strathclyde reach the 15 points needed to win.
“Even though we lost it never felt like a loss, because I saw so much excitement that I barely thought about the actual final result,” said team captain Nikita Rogozins.
The men’s team, too, added many new players to its roster. This first game was a great opportunity for them to debut alongside the ‘veterans’.
“All the new guys came in and gave absolutely everything they had to play in such a hard first game, with little to no practice as a full squad, and with some players never even seeing each other beforehand,” Nikita said.
“I think everyone deserves tremendous credit for their performance and it was a pleasure to play such exciting volleyball. We can only get better the more we train!”
“We still have a lot to work on and definitely have room to improve,” said women’s captain Julianne Deguara.
“But overall it was a positive start to the year and hopefully hard work will make future games just as positive.”
Both teams will play again next Sunday, the women at home against Glasgow University and the men away in Aberdeen.
Featured image credits: Ethan Polatajko
She/Her, Journalism and Film & Media student at the University of Stirling
