Two Medals for the Saints in the Sand

After a successful indoor season for the St Andrews University Volleyball Club, many players have been eager to change settings...

and move to the beach for the remaining weeks of the semester!

The Scottish Students Beach Championship held on Saturday May 3rd at West Sands has provided them with an ample opportunity to round off the volleyball season and set back premature exam preparations. With four women’s and five men’s teams the Saints represented in both competitions over a third of the participants. Especially the women’s 2nd team proved keen for additional volleyball action and entered three teams.

While the skill’s level amongst the teams varied, all players showed great spirit and commitment. Many games were won with the minimum difference of two points and three of the four semi-finals went into tiebreak. The semi-final also saw two Saints teams competing: Tussis /Lavreckyte qualified through a poised second place in their pool only losing to favourite McKenzie/Donnachie (Abertay) in a 17:21 set.

The loss turned out to have been a lucky sway as the Italian-Lithuanian fusion managed to capture the victory in the semi-final against Dundee’s Velten/Noguerafin. With 21:17, 17:27, 15:13 the game was very tied and earned the Saints a place in the final against Stirling’s representatives who had defeated Abertay in their semi. Unfortunately, the gold medal insight, Tussis/Lavreckyte did not find their game and gave up in straight set 6:21, 12:21 to Clarkson/Merti (Stirling).

The men’s competition saw the Saints’ Italian team Maugeri/Della Sala in a tough struggle for their pool’s second place with a positive end for the Saints. 21:19 against Edinburgh qualified them for a play-off match against another one of Edinburgh’s representatives who had placed third in their pool. An easy win led the Saints into the semis where they would encounter Abertay’s Boyle/McLaughlin. In the first set Maugeri/Della Sala competed on a high level but lost 19:21. In the 2nd set the later champions from Abertay proved their high ambitions while unforced errors destroyed the Saints’ game and led to a 21:10 defeat. Yet, in the game for third place the Italian spirit was revived. Maugeri/Della Sala won the day against Strathclyde’s Strachan/ Micallef-Eynaud and captured a bronze medal for the Saints. The successful conclusion of the season was accompanied by mild Scottish weather that played nicely along and guaranteed fair and enjoyable matches for the participants from all over Scotland. Congratulations to all the Saints’ teams for their successful participation!

Saints Women’s participants:

Anderson & Kruger, Lavreckyte & Tussis, Besosa & Epstein, Busetto & Simas

Men’s participants: Fang & Chung, Abou Fayad & Stone, Della Sala & Maugeri, Shaw & Matejczyk, Guidone & Mendoza