Derby week for UUC Volleyball

There’s nothing like a local derby to restart the NI Volleyball League

campaign!

Set 1 saw UUC make a blistering start with Catherine Murphy getting a great spike to open the scoring while Captain Rachel Montgomery had a run of serves which helped UUC race to a 5-0 lead.

Garvagh managed to find their rhythm and brought the scores back to almost even. However, some nice set-up play from Emily Walsh and continued strong serving from the likes of Teanna Mills, Zoë Hennessey and Rachel saw UUC race into an unassailable lead and they took the first set 25-10.

Set 2 saw UUC start where they had left off in Set 1 with a mixture of good blocking, serving and attacking seeing the team into a 7-3 lead. The next few points were evenly distributed with the longest rally at 14-8 really getting the crowd excited! Off a nice set from Hannah Boyd, Lia Webb managed a lovely spike at 16-8 which resulted in a Garvagh timeout.

However, Hannah Holmes kept the points coming for UUC with a strong ace serve in the first point back. Garvagh managed to pull back some points but it wasn’t enough as UUC sealed the second set 25-16.

With Garvagh keen to get something from the game, they refused to let UUC too far ahead in the first half of Set 3. Excellent defensive work from Garvagh’s libero Lila Lulek helped to keep the scores close between the teams. Aggressive spiking from Teanna and Lucy McCartney kept the game tight at 12-11. Vanessa Ross made strong efforts in backcourt defending to help keep UUC alive during the hard fought rallies.

However, a successful series of serves from Catherine and a well-placed spike from Lucy pushed the score to 23-19 and into a lead that would not be relinquished. The match ended in a 3-0 victory for UUC firsts.

Tuesday, January 25 saw a little bit of UUC volleyball history being made with the first ever league game taking place between UUC firsts and UUC seconds at the Ulster University Coleraine sports centre.

It has taken many years to build to a point in which two teams could be fielded which is testament to the coaching structure at the club.

Needless to say, the first few points were tight and a little cagey due to the unusual situation of playing competitively against teammates for the first time.

However, a series of strong serves from Rachel, Hannah H and Catherine saw UUC firsts push into a 22-6 lead. However, UUC seconds showed some steel near the end of the set with Zara Thorpe setting up Sarah Preising for a well-deserved point and Zania Avelar putting in some good defensive work at the back.

The first set ended 25-7 to UUC firsts. UUC firsts started strongly in Set 2, with Teanna mixing up some bullet serves with gentle well-paced efforts to ease UUC firsts into a 14-6 lead. Ultimately, UUC seconds could not claw back enough

points and the second set ended 25-14 in UUC firsts’ favour.

Despite it being relatively one-way traffic up to this point, a good motivational team talk from UUC seconds captain Steph Watson got her team ready for a third set battle.

Solid serving from Zara helped UUC seconds into an early lead. While UUC firsts pulled back some points, there was nothing to separate the teams at halfway. Reliable passing and hitting from players such as Alex Kincaid and Sarah Maxwell pushed UUC seconds slightly ahead at 16-15.

However, two aces from Steph coupled with some mistakes from UUC firsts led the seconds to a well-deserved third set victory which really had the crowd on their feet!

Set 4 was characterised by toing and froing in the early exchanges. However, the firsts started to find their groove again in the next third and pushed ahead into a 16-9 lead. Continued strong serving and attacking eventually helped the firsts win the final set 25-13. The match ended 3-1 in favour of UUC firsts.

The club would like to thank sponsors Randox, the match officials and also the supporters who created a great atmosphere during both matches.

The next game will be for UUC seconds, who will be playing Garvagh Phoenix at the Dalriada School sports hall today (Friday, February 4) with first serve around 8pm.

All supporters are welcome to attend.