Carnegie hoping to serve up cup success

by Andrew Carroll

Both men and women's Carnegie Volleyball teams are gearing up for the National volleyball Cup finals.

After making history this season by becoming the first team to not only win both the men's and women's BUCS Championships, but also landed an unprecedented double double, taking both VE Student Cup Titles in February.

The national volleyball cup finals are the highest standard of volleyball in the country and give the teams a real opportunity to put down a marker as a team to beat in the future.

Coach Simon Loftus said spoke of the club's achievement: "Getting both teams to the National Cup Finals is a massive milestone for the club. We only started in the National League 3 years ago and getting the women there last year was huge, to get 2 teams to the final in the same year is unbelievable.

Both teams are a massive credit to the university and consistently demonstrate what can be achieved with hard work and dedication. Both Sheffield (Men's opponents) & Polonia (Women's opponents) are going to be formidable and are justifiably favourites for the games with their superior experience and the number of titles they have. That being said we are not there to make up the numbers and hope to put on a great show to all of the supporters."

Leeds Met Carnegie Men will take on Sheffield as the final match of the day, following Leeds Met Carnegie Women who will be looking to avenge last year's defeat by taking on Polonia IMKA London in a repeat of last years final. The matches will take place on Saturday 16 April at the National Volleyball centre in Kettering.

Berndt Attila, captain of the men's team said: "Being in the National Cup finals is a great achievement for the whole team, it is a product of a four year team building process, hard work and improving performances from the team."

Both teams have an impressive record reaching the final as neither side dropped a set against their opposition in either the pool or knock out stages, showing what a strong calibre of players the university has.
Berndt continued: "The Cup finals should be looked at as a "free-game", the closing game of a very tough and competitive season, where we have a great chance of executing ourselves in front of a bigger crowd, in a different atmosphere. We know Sheffield very well, we know their strengths and weaknesses, but unless we do our job and get the most out of ourselves, we won't be disappointed either way."

The men's side overcame the challenges of Newcastle Staffs in the quarter-final and Tendring in the Semi-finals with convincing victories. The women's side beat IMKA London in the Semis and Loughborough Dolphins en route to the final.

Jessica Westman, women's team captain, added: "We are very excited about our second opportunity to play in the VE National Cup Finals. It's what we've been training for all year. We were a much younger team last year and our inexperience showed on the court. This year we look forward to showing everyone how strong we've become and how much we've learned.

This is the first time a major volleyball event has been hosted at the National Volleyball Centre in Kettering and everyone is looking forward to showcasing the facilities as well as watching some top class volleyball. Over 100 senior teams and 90 junior teams entered the National Cup at the start of the season.

Jessica concluded: "To get the trophy this year would recognise not only our dedication as players but our coach's dedication as well. We all put in the time, sweat and sacrifice, including Simon. Without him, we wouldn't be looking towards the finals today. We hope that the possibility of this achievement will show people his how invaluable he is to the success of our programme.