The University of East London Men’s Volleyball Team advanced to the Final of the BUCS Volleyball 2017/18 Championship, after defeating Durham University by 3 sets to 1 at SportsDock.
First Ever Final
It was the first time ever the East Londoners achieved the feat and they will face Northumbria University (who triumphed over Bournemouth University in the other Semi-final) in the Final on March 21st at the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Sports Centre, hoping to complete a league and cup double.
UEL player Noel Caballero was delighted with the result, suggesting that the unity amongst the players paid dividends.
“It’s the first time ever (reaching a final) in UEL history, so that feels really, really good. We all played for each other, so the emotion was definitely there, and we all trusted each other throughout the game.”
Defeating Durham
After taking a relatively comfortable first set 25-18, UEL were pushed much harder in the next set, winning the hard-fought second by a tight margin of three points, 25-22.
Durham came out fighting in the third set, blowing UEL away with an early smattering of points. Coaches Jefferson Williams and Ian Legrand sparked a reaction with an early time-out, with UEL pulling back in the set. However, the fight-back wasn’t enough, as the damage was done early-on in the set, with Durham taking it 25-21.
UEL secured their place in the final after another tight fourth set, in which UEL reversed the score from the third, to clinch victory 25-21, leading to jubilant celebrations, with the earlier-defeated women’s side joining in with the joyful embraces, proving just how much the result meant for the exceptional UEL side.
Speaking on how the side were successful in getting the result, Caballero said: “We passed really well, which means if we get the first contact down we can be a very powerful team, so after that we can run our offence to use all our hitters.
“We executed so well in the first two sets and were very high energy, although in the third set we didn’t contain that energy, but Ian and Jeff definitely contained that energy by getting us to focus on the next point, and when that’s done, we start over.”
Nullifying Northumbria
Northumbria, UEL’s opponents in the final, finished level on points with Durham, however boast a better goal-difference in the Premier North division. It’s safe to say this UEL team will need to be strong in their defensive resolve in order to nullify the Northumbria attacking threat, however silverware seems within touching distance after such an encouraging performance against the defeated Durham.
