UEL’s Men’s Volleyball Team’s Outside Hitter, Kamil Nowak, insists the side are optimistic ahead of Wednesday’s crucial BUCS Championship Semi-final against Durham University, at SportsDock.
Ian Legrand’s men are one of two UEL representatives in the BUCS Championships, with the Women’s Team, coached by Jefferson Williams, also in action against Durham. Nowak said: “It’s a double-header in the semi-finals, with both UEL teams in it against Durham, so hopefully we can make ourselves and our coaches proud. It all comes down to Wednesday, this is our aim and we will leave our hearts out there on the court.
“It will be a great match!”
Mixed Fortunes
The BUCS Premier South Champions have lacked consistency in terms of results since clinching their first ever title, losing their final league match of the season by 3 sets to 1 against The University of Essex, who were beaten by Durham in straight sets in the Quarter-finals of the competition, before the 3-0 victory over former UEL Coach Simon Loftus’ Nottingham.
Meanwhile Durham finished as runners-up in the Premier North on set-difference to Northumbria University, losing just once all season. Yet, despite his side’s erratic performances, Nowak insisted the team’s continuous intense level of training means that the side could progress into the Final.
“It’s the most important game so far this year, and we will see what the outcome will be on Wednesday. We have and we still are training hard, so hopefully we can get the result,” he said.
Naïve Against Nottingham
Although UEL looked comfortable in their victory against Nottingham, Nowak implied that the 3-0 score-line didn’t reflect the below-par performance of the team.
“We didn’t perform to our best. We made silly mistakes and gave plenty of points to our opponents. Against Durham we will definitely make sure we have less errors from our side, so they can’t benefit free points.”
No Juan, No Problem
The East Londoners will be without Libero, Juan Varona, who missed the previous encounter against Nottingham, due to his return to his native USA, however, Nowak explained how the side aren’t letting absences dampen their hopes of progressing past Durham.
“Juan has left the team and we do miss him, but that doesn’t mean we can’t play the way we played. We have amazing outside hitters who are able to receive as well as our second libero: Andrew ‘Rice’ Holgate, who is currently in very good shape.”
The contest will take place on Wednesday 14th March at 4pm at SportsDock, with live commentary on UEL Sports’ Facebook page.
