Tuesday, December 3Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

#BearsDay- A Great Start for Volleyball

Great start of the season for both the Men’s and Women’s teams, who won their home matches.

The Men’s team defeated Middlesex in Egham Leisure Centre with a secure 3-1. Despite the gloomy and depressing location, the boys started the game imposing a solid rhythm on the opposition and took the lead winning the first two sets with a good margin. During the third set, the team’s concentration went down, and due to far too many mistakes the opposition won the set 25-23. However, in the fourth and last set, the team went back on the court feeling determined to close the game. Thanks to new energy and a powerful and constant service, the boys won with a satisfactory margin of seven points. It was a fairly good game, and a special mention goes to all our new players, who did a great job considering that they had been playing together for only two weeks.  However, in the next few weeks the team needs to put some hard training in before the next fixture to refine its technique and find equilibrium.

Good performance for the girls as well, who played Surrey 2nd in the Sports Hall. Excitement was in the air for the first match of the league, and a bit of tension due to the absence of the coach. After a very hesitant start when they were losing 6-0, our ladies woke up and took the lead, going easily through the rest of the game and taking home an easy 3-0 win. Great effort from all the girls, especially from our new players, who have all been outstanding, already showing a great dedication to the team. Congratulations to Stacey who was awarded ‘Woman of the Match’ after going through an amazing twenty-points service break. Additionally, a big welcome back to Steph and Roxy, who have just come back from their years abroad and were deeply missed by the team last season. Finally, a special mention goes to Camilla, the team’s most experienced player, who stepped off the court to coach the girls from the bench, and to Isabella, the new captain, who played in a different position to her usual one and showed that great personality necessary to building the right team spirit. Well done to everyone!