Students 3-0 Spalding (25:17, 25:21, 25:19)
Spalding, 16th March, 2008, 19.00-21.00

Outside: Yongcan Liu, Xiaohuan Tang, Andrea Pastore
Middle: Yasushi Kondo, Jim McElwaine, Herman Chee
Setter: Richard Pearce
Opposite: Marco Sampaio
Libero: Francisco Hoi


Internal MVP goes to Xiaohuan Tang
Posted by Francisco Hoi

The Students 3-1 St.Philips, (25-20, 25-15, 17-25, 25-22)
Netherhall School, 10th March, 2008, 20:00 – 22:00

Outside: Pawel Zaczkowski, Xiaohuan Tang, Andrea Pastore
Middle: Yasushi Kondo, Jim McElwaine
Setter: Richard Pearce
Opposite: Eric Lai
Libero: Francisco Hoi



Internal MVP goes to Yasushi Kondo
Posted by Francisco Hoi

Rhinos 3 - 0 UCCW (25-23, 25-21, 25-23)
UCCW 3-0 Peterborough (25-0, 25-0, 25-0) Walkover
Leys, 2nd March 2008, 10.00 - 14.00

Outside: Silvia Breu, Katie Scotter
Middle: Maria Haal, Marija Buljan
Opposite: Eva Xu Du, Daniela Schettini
Setter: Alexandra Rinnert, Wanpin Zhuang




MVP goes to Maria Haal
Posted by Francisco Hoi

The traditional Indoor Cuppers – a competition between (mainly) college
teams – was organised in two rounds this year. 14 teams from 11 colleges
and 1 society entered the first round which took place in Leys School
Sports Hall on Sunday 20 January 2008. The teams competed in four groups (two groups of three and two of four teams). Only the winner each group made it through to the second round. Despite this, all teams seemed to enjoy themselves. The whole competition was held in an extremely friendly atmosphere and it was a real celebration of
volleyball-enthusiastic students.

The second round took place again in Leys Sports Hall on Sunday 10
February. The first semi-final game was played between the teams of
Queen's College and Trinity College. Trinity won quite easily 2:0 and
made it to the finals. The second semi-final game was played between
Churchill College and Fitzwilliam College. This one was much closer. In
the end, Churchill College made it to the finals by winning 2:0 over
Fitzwilliam College. The “small final” game between Queen's College and
Fitzwilliam College provided a very dramatic fight leaving Fitzwilliam
College the luckier in the end, winning the game 2:1. The final game
between very motivated Trinity College and traditionally strong
Churchill College (the champion on the last two years) brought some
exceptionally good volleyball on both sides. After two sets the score
was 1:1 and a decider had to be played. Trinity College was the luckier
one winning it by the closest possible difference 15:13 and becoming the
Indoor Cuppers 2008 Champion.

Congratulations to Trinity and well done to all teams!

The top 4 standings of this years Indoor Cuppers:
1. Trinity
2. Churchill
3. Fitzwilliam
4. Queen's
Posted by Jon Clarke

The Women’s Blues and the Rhinos moved pass the brave UCCW

Women’s Blues 1-2 Rhinos (21-25, 25-22, 23-25)
Women’s Blues 2-1 UCCW (25-12, 25-14, 21-25)
Rhinos 3-0 UCCW (25-4, 25-17, 25-8)

The Leys School Sports Hall, 27th January 2008, 10.00 – 14.00

The first set began with Crystal Cheng and Katie Scotter in the middle, Paulina Golec and the Captain Silvia Breu outside, with Eva Xu Du opposite setter Alexandra Rinnet. The experienced Women’s Blues clearly outclassed the young UCCW in all aspects of game. Dani and Tinnie was subbed in to help with the diggings, Sue-mae replaced Paulina hoping that the attacking line would be more stable and Wanpin switched into the game to change the attacking rhythm but nothing helped. The Blues quickly took the first and the second set home 25-12 and 25-14.

Things started to change for much better in the third set. Starting with our strongest serving rotation - from Paulina, Crystal to Eva - the UCCW managed to give the Blues a bit of trouble in receiving. The more experienced Paulina and the all-time-good-passer Eva continued to dig well making sure Alex can set nicely to Silvia and Katie who consistently punched hole through the blocks. Paulina was more settled into the game now than the last two sets and started to hit strongly and intelligently through 4. Crystal continued to make her impact significant in the game with a couple of nice blockings, some impressive hittings and a row of strong servings which led the UCCW into a 6-point-lead. Tinnie was subbed into for Crystal to dig with no fear. Katie, Eva and Silvia continued to lead the team in front with some superb nice dings and great hits. Crystal was put back on court to block and hit, with Dani replaced Katie to serve and dig at the backcourt. Finally with the joint-effort of the whole team, the UCCW took the third set home 25-21, which was the first set the UCCW won for this season.

Due to too much excitement of winning the Women’s Blues for a set, the UCCW lost quickly to the ever more experienced and stronger Rhinos 3-0. The UCCW started off with Tinnie opposite to the setter Wanpin, Cyrstal blocking in the middle with Eva, and the Captain Silvia continued her leadership on court hitting outside with Sue-mae.

The Rhinos was clearly far too strong for the UCCW. With consistently powerful serving and magnificent hitting, the UCCW had nothing to stop the Rhinos, and lost quickly 25-4.

The second set saw Silvia hitting outside with Paulina, Alex setting opposite to Eva, Crystal blocking in the middle with Katie. The team started off strong with some nice passings and hittings, but soon the Rhinos did not give a chance to the less experienced, and powered pass the UCCW at 25-17. The UCCW seemed to get very tired in the final set and let the Rhinos took the set home 25-8.

Internal MVPs -
For the Women’s Blues game: Crystal Cheng
For the Rhinos game: Silvia Breu
Posted by Francisco Hoi

UEA, 25th November, 9am to 5pm

Cambridge 2 0-2 Kent University (21-25, 23-25)

Cambridge 2 2-0 Gloucestershire University (25-8, 25-5)

Cambridge 2 2-0 Southampton University (25-9, 25-23)

Cambridge 2 1-1 UEA (15-25, 25-20)


With all sorts of other commitment, injury and illness, the Cambridge 2 (UCCM) struggled to get the strongest players to the EVA. The Cambridge 2 arrived UEA with 10 players without any back-ups for the middle blockers and the setter.


Cambridge 2 0-2 Kent University (21-25, 23-25)
The Cambridge 2 team started with its new captain Marco Sampaio hitting opposite to the setter Richard Pearce, Yongcan Liu and David Holec at outside hitter position, and Clemens Wiltsche and Yasushi Kondo blocking middle. Francisco Hoi would patrol the back row as libero.

With very consistent passing from Yongcan and Francisco, Richard had no difficulty setting nicely to Marco and David who rose high on the left and the right to dispatch numerous spikes and gave the Cambridge 2 an early lead. But then with a couple of good services by Kent, they soon closed the gap. But still, the Cambridge 2 was leading a couple of points till the middle of the set. Without hesitation, Kent’s top class middle blocker started to penetrate the Cambridge 2 defense system with some huge quick spikes and then stuff blocked most of the hits going through 3 and 4 from the Students’ side. Richard had no option but to give the balls to Marco from backcourt, but the backcourt defense on the Kent’s side had already read Marco’s hitting angle very clearly and picked up most of the hits without great difficulty. With two time-outs by the Cambridge 2 quickly used, Kent still managed to catch up quickly. With one of the best setters ever found in a university team, Kent cleary upgraded their attackers’ efficiency by giving them ample opportunity to face only single blocks and to hit whenever they wanted to. The Students lost the first set quickly at 25:21.

Again with Marco’s and David’s deep spikes, the Cambridge 2 was ahead again on the second set. But soon Kent came back and levelled at the middle of the set. Marco was on fire killing wherever he was but Kent showed that they could do equally well. With amazing setting from the Kent’s setter giving every killing opportunity to his hitters, the Kent went to take over the lead. Despite repetitive reminders by Francisco and Yongcan to double-block Kent’s solid middle hitter and block cross-court for their side hitters, the blockers were clearly not listening due to the high levels of stress. Marco’s acing jump serve and solid hit by David and Marco helped to catch up some points, but still an intelligent play by Kent took the second set 25-23.


Cambridge 2 2-0 Gloucestershire University (25-8, 25-5)

The first set began with Clemens Wiltsche and Yasushi Kondo in the middle, Pawel Zaczkowski and David Holec outside, Marco Sampaio opposite to setter Richard Pearce and Francisco Hoi as libero.

Even though the Cambridge 2 gave their first-choice players Yongcan a rest, there was still plenty of top quality and experience on court.

With Pawel’s and Yasushi’s superb services, the Gloucestershire team found it difficult to set up any good attacks, and even if attacks were set up, Clemens managed to shut off everything on the net. Eric, Alex and Yongcan were later substituted on to give a break for the other first-choice players. Alex and Eric consistently over-powered the Gloucestershire’s blocking, and the Cambridge 2 took the set 25-8 without any problems.

The second set started more or less the same with Pawel and Eric consistently killing through 4 and at the same time Clemens’ and Yasushi’s quick spikes were unstoppable, too. Alex was substituted in but he twisted his ankle soon when he clashed with a team mate and he was forced to be assisted off-court. However, the Cambridge 2 was not affected too much and again with some power hits by Marco, the Cambridge 2 took the second set home very easily 25-5.


Cambridge 2 2-0 Southampton University (25-9, 25-23)

The Cambridge 2 line up was: Richard Pearce setting, Marco Sampaio as opposite, Clemens Wiltsche together with Yasushi Kondo blocking in the middle, David Holec and Yongcan Liu as outside hitter and Francisco Hoi playing as a libero.

Right from the beginning of the first set, Yongcan’s super float serves caused tons of troubles for the Southampton’s passing units, and Yasushi and Marco formed solid blocking preventing anything from getting past. Soon, Cambridge 2 was ahead. Nice setting by Richard to David and Marco who continued to pound many glorious winners on the left and on the right expanding the gap, and before everyone noticed it, Cambridge 2 took the first set home 25-9.

Pawel replaced Yongcan for the second set aiming at increasing attacking power at 4 but Southampton’s outside hitter now seemed to find their ways of getting past the blocking and scored. Cambridge’s Yasushi consistently showed his speed and precision at the net by quick spikes and blocks accompanied by Marco’s massive hitting on the right, which still made it hard for the Southampton. However, due to a lack of concentration, Cambridge 2 was letting the Southampton back into the game and even let them take the lead. When a couple of nice time-outs interrupted Southampton’s float, Cambridge 2 came back with greater concentration. Superb blocking by Clemens shutting down every outside hittings and with David solid hitting through 4, the Cambridge 2 caught up and took the set home 25:23.


Cambridge 2 1-1 UEA (15-25, 25-20)

The Cambridge 2 had the David Holec hitter outside with Yongcan Liu, Clemens Wiltsche blocking with Yasushi Kondo, Marco Sampaio hitting on the right opposite to the setter Richard Pearce. Francisco Hoi took up the libero jersey.

Cambridge 2 was clearly affected by the short break before this game and everyone appeared to be cold and dull right at the beginning of the first set. With Francisco making two passing errors attempting to receive corner services and then Marco getting blocked twice with three massive hits by UEA, Cambridge 2 was behind 0-6. The time-out still could not help much when Yongcan and Yasushi had timing problems with Richard’s setting and UEA used every opportunity to kill. Again with a couple of too ambitious over-net passings by Francisco for those booming jump-serves by UEA and a couple more hitting out and down the net by Marco and David, Cambridge 2 could not recover their lost ground even though they tried their best towards the end of the set. UEA took the first set with immerse power and precision at 25-15.

For the second set, Pawel came in for David and the magic started to work. Yasushi fed off Richard’s short set at the net and Marco thrashed winner after winner on the right past UEA’s block. UEA clearly wanted more from the first set and they continued to hit solidly through 4 and 2. Cambridge 2 clearly had no answer to it due to superb hitting height and power. Pawel’s and Yongcan’s smart play were clearly eye-catching and with spectators supporting both teams, none of them were willing to give an inch and fought for every single point. Yasushi continued to show his experience up the net with a couple of stuff blocks and scoring tipping making sure Cambridge 2 would not fall behind.With great diving by Francisco and unbelievable digging by Yongcan, Richard consistently used these uneasy-to-get opportunities to set them to Marco who maintained the relentless barrage with unstoppable winners. With more great hittings by Pawel, Cambridge 2 started to develop a small lead in the middle of the second set. Eric was substituted in for Pawel ensuring every ball would be saved and it clearly worked. Both teams continued to progress with some persistent attacking. However, nothing could stop Yongcan thundered three spikes down in a row through 4. Finally, Cambridge 2 used every opportunity they had to kill and block and took the second set home 25-20.


Internal MVP goes to Marco Sampaio
Posted by Francisco Hoi

Perkins 3-0 Students (25-23, 25-16, 25-17)
The Perkins Social Club, 22nd November 2007, 20.30 – 22.00

The Students had expected a tough game and a tough game it was. They had their captain David Holec hitting outside together with Pawel Zaczkowski, Nuno Reis blocking with Clemens Wiltsche, Marco Sampaio hitting on the right opposite to the setter Richard Pearce. Francisco Hoi took up the libero jersey.

Things were pretty tight for much of the first set with the Perkins holding just a one to two points lead from 3-3 to 14-13 and then from 19-17 to 21-18. Marco Sampaio, Most Important Player, was the star of the show for UCCM producing a dazzling array of spikes to power the Students whilst the Perkins nicely distributed their sets to several strong hitters who would always successfully power past UCCM’s blocking and defense system. Being more consistency, the Perkins took the first set by 25-23.

Both teams set about throwing big punches from the off, with Marco Sampaio consistently killing from right for the Students while the Perkins’ heavy hitters returned fire for their own team. The experienced the Perkins team could clearly tell that the Students’ attacking system was tilting to the right, heavily relying on Marco at 2 and backcourt at 1, and managed to set a double block for every single of his hits. This lead to Marco making a couple of mistakes in hitting and tipping. Both Pawel and David on the left found it somewhat uneasy to get used to Richard’s setting and it was difficult for them to get past the Perkins’ blockings to score. Slowly, the Students’ receiving system started to collapse as they lost concentration dealing with the acing the Perkins’ super float serve. Then, the Students’ defence system broke down. There was hardly any efficient blocking and this made it triple hard for the diggers to get in positions to defend. Yongcan Liu was substituted for David for receiving but it still did not help too much. When Nuno aced his jump serves, this somehow boosted the Students’ self-confidence a bit. However, the Students gave the game to Perkins 25-16.

In the third set, Rogier started off as middle for Clemens in a hope to make a change in the attacking and blocking system. Again relying on Marco to blaste the early points for the Students still could not help them much as the Perkins took an early lead of the third set. Suddenly, it seemed that there were holes everywhere on the Students’ side. The sole reliance on Marco exhausted him leading to a dramatic decline in efficiency. Together with the lack of any concentration at passing, this led to the Perkins going 14 to 7. David and Pawel slowly found their rhythms and made a couple of winners in the middle of the Perkins’ side but it was too late. Yongcan was finally substituted in for the exhausted Marco. However, without much struggle the Students soon handed the set and the game nicely over to Perkins at 25-17.

Lack of steadiness, communication and concentration, the inability to deal with stress and the sole heavy reliance on one hitter were the main causes for this loss of the Students.


Internal MVP goes to Marco Sampaio
Posted by Francisco Hoi

ARU 3-0 UCCW (25:13, 25:17, 25:15)
CVC 3-0 UCCW (25:9, 25:14, 25:11)
The Leys School Sports Hall, 11th November 2007, 10.00 – 14.00

The UCCW was left astray with the absence of Katie Scotter, Daniela Schettini, Sue-Mae Saw and Eva Xu Du due to illness, injuries and work commitment.

In the game against ARU, UCCW has the Captain Silvia Brea hitting outside with Charlotte Scott, Maria Haal blocking middle with Crystal Cheng, Tinnie Chau playing opposite to the setter Alexandra Rinnert.

The new starting players were not familiar with the rotations and the passing and digging positioning. To make it worse, the passings and the diggings of UCCW were not as good as they used to be, resulting very few quality settings and attackings were formed on the UCCW’s side. Maria and Silvia could still manage to hammer a few balls down from time to time from some nice settings by Alex, but the points gained were just far from enough to compensate for any other errors.

Marta Machala was subbed in for Tinnie and Crystal to improve better serving and attacking. Wanpin got to do the setting towards the end of each set when the starting setter suffered from the terrible passings. Marija got to do a few blockings and hittings too.

Due to lack of teamwork and communication, The UCCW lost quickly to the ARU in 3 sets (25:13, 25:17, 25:15).

The UCCW came up with a different starting up for the game against the CVC and hoped things would get better. Silvia hitting opposite to Marta at outside, Marija blocking in the middle with Maria, and Tinnie hit opposite to the setter Wanpin.

It looked a lot better during the beginning of the first set with some great passings, pick-ups and hittings, nevertheless the team started to suffer from the lack of experience. With two time-out quickly used, Alex went back on court to do the setting with Crystal took on the passing task at the back, the team seemed to go back on track, but still the experienced CVC did not give a chance to the inexperienced, and took the first set 25.9.

The UCCW continued to do better and better with Tinnie’s impressive passings, Silvia great pick-ups, nice setting by Wanpin and Maria’s solid hit, the team was ahead even by 2 points during the beginning of the second set, but soon the team got stuck in a rotation and gave many points away. Soon the CVC took the second set, 25-14.

Despite some good hittings by Crystal and Maria, and great pick-ups by Silvia, Tinnie and Charlotte, the CVC proved that they were just simply stronger in terms of all aspects of the game. With a run of good services by the CVC, the UCCW quickly lost their rhythms and handed over the game, 25-11.


Internal MVPs -
For the ARU game: Maria Haal
For the CVC game: Wanpin Zhuang
Posted by Francisco Hoi

Students 3-1 Rhinos (19-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-19)
The Leys School Sports Hall, 4th November 2007, 16.00 – 18.00

The Students grew stronger as the match went on to win over the Rhinos for the second time this season, with scores 19-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-19.

The UCCM’s captain David Holec hitting outside with Alex Hermes, whilst Yasushi Kondo blocking middle with Friz Muethau, Marco Sampaio continued to hit through opposite Richard Pearce setting and Francisco Hoi as the libero.

From the beginning of the first set, the Students struggled to get their game together while the Rhinos looked the better organized of the two teams. Good blocking and digging by Rhinos put the less patient Students team in great deal of pressure, and with hitting errors and serving errors continued to mount up on the Students side, the Rhinos team took the lead 5-3, 12-9 and 14-10. Nevertheless some solid hits by David and Marco somehow helped the Students to recover. Yongcan was subbed in for Alex for defense, but it still could not stop the Rhinos proceeding to set point and took the first set 25-19.

The Students came back with greater determination to play better, but still the Students continued to commit quite some errors in hitting when they tried too hard to hit powerful and score. With Pawel Zaczkowski coming in on court for Alex when the Students were behind with the score 9-11, magic started to work! With Richard consistent float serves and David and Francisco superb pick-ups, Pawel and Marco took on the Rhinos’ defense and produced a series of vigorous winners, leading the Students took the lead at 14-12. With Pawel’s serving continued to put pressure on the Rhino’s passing units, the Students made sure every opportunity they got were well-exploited with some powerful hits by David and Marco and solid blocks by Yasushi, the Students widened the lead into 21:13. The Students finished the Rhinos off with Marco’s superb serving.

Both teams set about throwing big punches from the off of the third set, with Pawel and Marco blasted over early points for the Students, while Rhinos played smartly with some nice tippings and touch-out hits. With efficient blockings from Yasushi and Friz, and magnificent diggings from Francisco and David, Richard was able to deploy the team’s attacking unit easily and send firepowder to the big guns, Pawel, David and Marco, who killed on the left and the right consistently which maintained the Students’ advantage throughout the set 13:11, 14:12, and 17:15. From time to time Richard also got Yasushi’s starting his lightning-like quick-hit in the middles. With more consistent play and powerful hits, the Students took the third set 25-18 without too much difficulty.

Rhinos again took the lead in the fourth set, but magic was performed again when Yongcan Liu was subbed in for David when David got a rather bad nose-bleed at 7-all. With more consistent pick-ups by Yongcan and good blocking by Friz, Richard was able to make sure Pawel and Marco were well-fed with good settings, and gradually the Students roared back and picked up their rhythm, and even the lead at 14:7. The Students’ heavy hitters continued to blaze away, and the Rhinos were clearly rattled and had lost their flow. It did not take long as the Students took the final set home 25:19.


Internal MVP goes to Pawel Zaczkowski
Posted by Francisco Hoi

Students 3-0 CVC4 (25-9, 25-20, 25-21)
The Manors Community Sports Hall, 4th November 2007, 12.00 – 14.00

Students had little difficulty in racking up a win overcoming the gallant CVC4 25-9, 25-20, 25-21. The Students team started with Richard Pearce setting opposite Marco Sampaio, David Holec (Captain) and Alex Hermes at outside hitter, and Rogier Beaumont and Nuno Reis blocking middle. Francisco Hoi patrolled the back row as libero.

The Students started off strongly with Alex consisting hitting all sorts of beautiful angles, from straight-down-the-line to a spectacular angle seeing the ball land inside three-metres, killing every opportunity he got. Then Alex used his service to put pressure on the CVC4 combining with the solid blocking formed by Nuno and Marco which gave such a hard-time for the CVC4 outside hitter getting their spikes through the blocks. With CVC4 making nearly a dozen of errors and some spectacular hits through 4 and 2 by David and Marco, the Students team took the first set home 25-9.

If CVC4 was disheartened by losing the first set 25-9, they certainly did not show it at the beginning of the second set, taking the game to the Students, who must have been surprised at the resilience of their opponents. Some sloppy play by the Students allowed the CVC4 back into the game, and some good blocks and services by the CVC4 had caused some troubles for the Students. Although CVC4 still made some errors in attacking, they clawed back the points as their defending improved and some of the spikes started to find their mark. But the Students’ two middle blockers are not just good blockers, they are surely good hitters too. With some impressive setting by Richard, Nuno consistently powered past CVC4 defense unit with some fantastic spikes through the middle, and the CVC4 found little they could do to stop Rogier scoring with his superb backslides. But errors of the Students allowed CVC4 to keep the scores reasonably close, however, David and Marco finished things off with a couple resounding spikes, 25-20.

Yasushi started playing on the outside saving David for the game later on in the afternoon. This gave a chance for CVC4 as they found themselves on top at the beginning of the third set as the Students lack of communication continued to plague the team. CVC4 continued to improve their performance with excellent quicks through the middle whilst the Students found nothing to stop them. Luckily, the Students found some consistency through Nuno and Marco that gave them some breathing space. Friz was later subbed into for Rogier, and his solid blockings with Richard surprised the CVC4 by a couple stuff blocks and countless effective blocks. With some smart tippings and some wonderful spikes by Alex, Yasushi and Friz, the Students took their last set home, 25:21.


Internal MVP goes to Alex Hermes
Posted by Francisco Hoi

CVC 3-0 UCCW (25:12, 25:20, 25:18)
Blues 3-0 UCCW (25:17, 26:24, 25:18)
CVC 3-0 Blues (25:12, 25:15, 25:15)
The Leys School Sports Hall, 28th October 2007, 10.00 – 14.00

The first match of the season for the UCCW ended in a well fought match against two of more experienced and averagely much taller teams: the CVC and the Cambridge University Women’s Blues. Without the more experienced setter Claire Nichols and good hitter Chrystal Cheng, the UCCW still came up with a competitive line-up. The Students starting line up for both games against the CVC and the Blues was: Alexandra Rinnert setting, Daniela Schettini as opposite, Katie Scotter together with Eva Xu Du hitting in the middle, our captain Silvia Breu and Sue-Mae Saw as outside hitter.

Considering it was the first time that the UCCW played with such a rotation and also with a number of new players joining the starting squad, it is already a significant achievement. However with the lack of experience, the UCCW started slowly in the first set against the CVC. With some passing errors and hitting errors and the lack of connections between the setters and the attackers, and also the lack of communications between the players in general, the UCCW quickly lost the first set with 25:12 to the CVC.

But the girls proved their talents and their quick learning in the second and third sets, they adapted in very quickly with solid passing by Sue-Mae, Eva and Dani which allowed Alex to set consistently to Katie and Silvia who killed over and over again. Marija Buljan, Wanpin Chuang and Kat Hoeffler were subbed into the court to give Katie, Alex and Dani a short break during the game. However with more power, much better techniques and consistency, the good old CVC took the second set 25:20 and the third set 25:18 without huge problems.

With strong determination to play better, the girls cheered for themselves a lot louder and really supporting each other to play as a proper team during the game against the Blues. Starting off with the strongest serving rotation in each set starting with Eva, Dani and Sue-Mae who always manage to put the opponent team in trouble, and magnificent digging by Dani and Sui-Mae which always surprised the crowd, and good hitting by Katie, Silvia and Eva which nevertheless played smartly as well as strongly, and not to mention the consistent setting by our new setter Alex, the UCCW was leading early in all three sets in the game against the Blues, however, due to lack of experience in controlling the rhythm of the game as well as the rather huge disadvantages of being shorter, the Blues were given chance to fight back and win.

Marija was subbed in during all three sets and 2 successful scoring blocks within such a short time-scale can hardly be seen in the other 2 women’s matches today. Another new setter Wanpin was given chance to shine, and her setting have improved throughout the game. Kat was subbed in at the front courts and 2 intelligent hits helped UCCW get through some of the toughest serves by the Blues. Machala Marta has also proved herself to be a useful player with some great diggings and hittings. Oreoluwa Disu also hit a few balls which demonstrate some good potentials. Last but not least, Tinnie Chau’s good diggings and pick-ups made it hard for the Blues to reach the match point.

I am truly impressed by the overall performace today, especially in diggings, servings and those very intelligent tips and powerful hits. The young UCCW have proved it, in the short future, to be a tough team to play against for any strong team in the league.

Internal MVP:
For the CVC game: Katie Scotter
For the Blues game: Katie Scotter
Posted by Francisco Hoi

Students 3-0 Rhinos (25-20, 25-21, 25-17)
The Leys School Sports Hall, 28th October 2007, 14.00 – 16.00

The Students started the season with a 3:0 victory against Rhinos team.

The first set began with Yasushi Kondo and Rogier Beaumont in the middle, Pawel Zaczkowski and David Holec outside, with Marco Sampaio as opposite, setter Richard Pearce, and Francisco Hoi as libero.

The first set started well for the Students with steady receiving, powerful hittings and solid blockings. The Students, with strong determination to take their first victory of the season home, managed to side out very quickly with Yasushi’s quick attacks drawing blocks for Pawel’s and David’s speed up attack at 4. However the Rhinos continued to put pressure on the passing skills of the Students, and with more experience and tacit understanding between their players, they pulled back immediately, and forced the Students to call a time-out. Finally the Students managed to work together as a team and with some great hitting by David on the left side and Marco on the right side, both front court and back court, the Students took the first set home with 25:20

The students continued to build on their momentum and started leading the second set right from the beginning with scores: 4:0, 5:1 and 9:3. Rogier’s spectacular backslide, Marco thundering hits at 2 and Pawel consistently killing and clever tipping put Rhinos in great pressure in blocking and digging. But then unforced errors on the Students’ side started coming back, and the experienced Rhinos took the chance and crawled back point by point and even took the lead at 17:14. Yongcan was subbed into the court to serve and also to build a stronger passing and digging system with the libero Francisco, and with the strong float serves by Yongcan, more solid defence system and hitting in a smarter way, the Students continued to come back, however, the Rhinos would not let the Students succeed easily. With another time-out called by the Students at 21 all, the Students successfully halted the Rhino’s flow. The talk worked, and the Students came back in great style and eventually took the set at 25:21.

Both teams started strongly on the third set, but with greater powers the Students started taking the lead in the middle of the set. United teamwork with solid blocking by Rogier and Yasushi, great covers from David and Francisco gave many opportunities to Richard delivering more accurate and speed-up sets to our star-hitters Pawel and Marco who managed to kill over and over again. Finally with Marco aced twice with superb jump serves, the Students took the final set home 25:17.

Internal MVP goes to Marco Sampaio
Posted by Francisco Hoi