University of Gloucestershire Men’s Volleyball add yet another defeat in their BUCS League game against Cardiff University but are heading into the Western Conference Cup with their “heads held high”.
The close nature of the teams’ positions in the league prepared them both for a tough match as the Gloucester boys did not get off to a good start to the new season.
Despite the tough loss, Gloucester’s star player Mohammed Sumani secured his second player of the match award after a great performance scoring the most spikes.
The Gloucestershire men have currently lost three out of five games this season, with defeats already against UWE and Cardiff Met.
The first set was underway and Glos were first to score a point, however both teams took a while to show their true strengths.
The home side strengthened their position, increasing the pressure on Cardiff despite remaining ahead throughout the first set.
However, Glos were able to equalise at several points which rattled the opposition’s defence, with the Blues securing a tense 22-25 first set win.
Unfortunately, the second set saw a much stronger and focused away side as they maintained the lead throughout majority of the set with high end serves and longer rallies.
A lot of sloppy mistakes from the Blues allowed Cardiff to secure the second set in a composed fashion to make it 1-1 at half time.
As the third set got underway, both teams were motivated by a loss and a win which was abundantly clear in the quality of play from all players on court.
Mentally the better side, the Red and Whites came out of the set with high pressure hits and strong positionings, securing a comfortable second set win.
Tensions were rising as the whistle blew for the third set of the game however it was the Welsh side who put together some excellent combinations of play that Glos struggled to deal with.
It was still a highly contested match with only few points in it throughout but sadly, Cardiff took the final set 15-10 and comfortably secured a 3-2 win in sets.
Gloucester played an exceptional game with many positive improvements to take into their next big game in the Western Conference Cup.
Vice-captain, Yiannis Kontes was filled with optimism after a confident display from his side.
“It was probably our best performance by far however it could’ve been better as we lacked communication.
“A big game is ahead of us and we are hoping to keep the momentum going for the cup game and I think the team shouldn’t knock themselves down as we were without our key player and we played our hearts out.
“The Western Cup is huge for our team and the University and if we want to win it we have to put our heads into the game and produce a well- shaped game.”
After a tough game, Glos now need to snatch a win in their next game against Exeter on Wednesday, November 24, in order to progress further in the competition.
