The Mens’ volleyball team travelled to Leeds Met yesterday and gave our performance of the season against the recently crowned Student Cup Champions. The game came in the BUCS Championships last 16, a knock-out round for Division 1 teams with top-3 league finishes in their respective regions. Having already had to contend with the best two teams in the country – Leeds Met and Sheffield Hallam – in our league season, we were inexplicably drawn against one of them again for this supposedly inter-regional competition.

After a lacklustre performance against the Met two weeks ago in the league, we were determined to do ourselves justice on the big stage and didn’t disappoint. Encouraged by the return of experienced veteran Pietro Galli, the standard of volleyball was high and the team-spirit unrecognisable from the previous fixture. Despite letting Met open up a 5-point advantage at the start of the first set, we stuck to the task with some excellent backcourt defence and never let them pull away. As the set progressed, our confidence continued to increase as we piled on the pressure with some brutal attacks of our own. When Met finally closed out the set 25-18, the relieved expressions on their faces showed that they weren’t expecting such a battle.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain that level of performance in the second set and struggled to handle the tactical float serves and brutal outside attacks. Never really finding our rhythm, we quickly went down 25-11. This seemed to shell-shock the team going into the third set and by the time we called our first time-out we were 10-2 behind and at risk of rolling over meekly. However, despite the prospect of an apparently inevitable defeat looming, we put in a remarkable fight-back with a run that brought us to within 2 points and resurrected the scared looks from the opposition that we had induced in the first set. Even as Met pulled away again and were on the verge of closing out the match, we never laid down, threw our bodies on the line and continued to play aggressively in defence and attack with Josh Chipman producing a couple of stunning spikes late on.

While it’s always disappointing to lose, the manner of defeat against a team of Leeds Met’s calibre highlighted both the spirit and the technical ability within our team. To reach the final 16 in the country is a fantastic achievement and had we been drawn against anyone other than “the big 2” we would have been confident to progress to the finals weekend and really compete for a top-3 finish. We can now focus all our resources on crushing Lancaster at Roses, which on the basis of our form in this match, should be some spectacle!

The men’s volleyball team completed a gruelling week of fixtures with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of table-topping Sheffield Hallam. Having played the top three teams in the division all within the space of seven days, this proved a match too far with the squad decimated through injury and illness. In particular, the absence of Luca Accorsi with his powerful hitting and controlled back-court passing proved a huge blow to any hopes of causing an upset against an undefeated Hallam side who have conceded just two sets all season.

It was immediately apparent that Hallam considered the fixture a formality that needed completing and sadly this showed in their arrogance and lack of respect. Failing to provide a qualified referee, let alone a second-referee or scorers, gave the fixture the air of a light-hearted practice as opposed to a Division 1 BUCS encounter.

Unfortunately for us, this haughtiness was underscored by precocious talent and we never really kept pace with their superior power. A distinct height advantage and an ability to hit intelligently with great power, exposed our defensive frailties on a regular basis. Despite this, we showed great spirit in sticking to the cause and not allowing Hallam to simply run riot. There was genuine backcourt commitment to put bodies on the line and chase down every ball in an attempt to keep the points alive. Coupled with some intelligent ball placement by the hitters, we ensured that we kept the scoreboard ticking over.

However, under the sustained barrage of Hallam’s jump-serves and penetrating attacks from all positions, we struggled to maintain the accuracy of our passing. This restricted the attacking options available and meant we were unable to effectively utilise our own big middle-hitters.

While playing one of the top teams in the country at the end of such a tough weak was always going to be a challenge, there were some real positives to take from the match. Despite all the odds stacked against us, every player fought until the end. This was characterised by a late flurry of points in the third set, despite already being 23-12 and two sets to zero down.

While it’s always disappointing to lose, the team has made noticeable progress this term which, with hard work, we can build upon in the new year to cement a top-three league finish.

Archive: Captain’s Comments: Jack Butcher (26/11/08)

With only the top team from each group guaranteed qualification, it was vital to get off to a quick start but we had barely stepped off the bus (which was delayed due to overnight snow) before we found ourselves on court against our toughest opponents of the day. With no time for a proper warm up and with most of our team looking half asleep, Teeside opened up a 5-point lead from the start due to some powerful spiking from all areas of the court from their big middle-hitter. Despite a few promising attacks of our own, predominantly through outside-hitter Luca Accorsi, our defence was too flat footed and never really came to terms with the unexpected power and guile of the Teeside attack.

After surrendering the first set 25-16, we started the second in much the same vein as the first, quickly finding ourselves trailing. With a relatively inexperienced team this year and having only played a handful of games together, our confidence was notably lacking and we never really looked like fighting our way back into the match. With a 2-0 straight sets defeat, our chances of winning our group took a huge setback and meant that only comprehensive victories in both of our remaining matches would leave us with any chance of qualification.

To the team’s credit, our second match against Liverpool John Moores opened up with a reversal of our first game and saw us build a significant advantage from the first whistle. In an example of the importance of creating your own atmosphere and momentum in multi-game tournaments, confidence visibly came flowing back as we piled on the points. Every aspect of our performance improved from the first pass to the spike. Middle hitters Janis Koknevics and Pietro Galli benefited from some improved setting and started consistently killing the ball into the opponents court while the defence of opposite Josh Chipman and libero Lukas Thoeni ensured that LJM got no easy points.

Having blown them away in the first set 25-10, we recovered from a shaky start in the second to gradually ease away from a disheartened Liverpool outfit. Wrapping up a straight sets triumph with a 25-17 score line, we knew that the impressive manner of our victory had done our points difference no harm and given us every chance to qualify as the “best runner-up” if we could repeat the performance against Sussex in our final game.

It quickly became clear that Sussex’s attack was based around two key players who had an amazing ability to both blast through any weaknesses in the block and subtly place the ball into the gaps in our court. However we now had the distinct advantage of having found our own rhythm and adapted quickly to the new threat. With an effective 3-man-block generally nullifying their main threats, we started using some intelligent ball placement of our own, particularly by outside-hitter Michal Kovac. With a ruthless streak becoming evident in our play, we closed out a first set of genuine quality, 25-21.

Unfortunately in the second set, our inexperience as individuals and as a team once again shone through. Failing to maintain the newfound intensity in our game, and letting some dubious refereeing decisions affect our concentration, we failed to deliver on the crucial points and the confidence started to evaporate as Sussex surged into the lead. By losing the second set 25-20, our chance of qualification as “best runner-up” was effectively ended and this disappointment was reflected in a disjointed deciding-set display. Despite some excellent work once again by Kovac, we failed to deliver on the big points and ended up losing 15-9. It was a thoroughly disappointing end to a frustrating day but we need quickly to learn some important lessons and take some valuable experience from the tournament as an intensely packed BUCS league programme unfolds in the next few weeks.