East Londoners pass Cambridge exam to achieve more success

University of East London volleyball club dominated Cambridge as both the men’s and women’s squads defeated their opponents in straight sets yesterday (Wednesday) at the SportsDock.

The men firsts were first to play host to their rivals and the match went back and forth for much of the first set.

UEL took a 7-4 lead but Cambridge bounced back and eventually pulled ahead, 12-11. But with Daniel Schmidtke on serve, the hosts recovered and took a commanding five point lead.

This time the east Londoners did not allow the visitors back into the set as they went on to win it 25-16.

UEL produced a much more dominant performance in the second as they scored the first two points before Cambridge responded with two of their own, but after the hosts won the next point - they led for the rest of the set.

The away team came close to drawing level at 6-5 after their rivals misjudged a serve that stayed inside the line for an ace.

But UEL won the serve back and soon stretched out to a 14-8 lead. A Cambridge time out accomplished little as the hosts continued to dominate the set before quickly reaching another 25-16 triumph.

The third was another 25-16 result for the east Londoners as they led the entire way. Niall Burton produced a brilliant block to put them up by three early on and they moved ahead 12-7 on Burton’s serve.

Cambridge called time out again in a bid to rally their troops and get back into the match. Once again, UEL came out of the timeout focused and won the next point.

The hosts continued to increase their lead as they romped to a straight set win that gives them a 7-1 record for the season.

Women firsts put in an even more dominant performance and even though Cambridge scored the first point of the match, UEL were quick to take the lead.

A pair of early aces from Luca Toth got the home side on a roll and they charged out to an 11-3 lead.

Cambridge won the next two points, but Ashley Rose Fantazia smashed a kill of the arm of an opposition defender to take the serve back for UEL.

The away team began to make errors as the east Londoners became increasingly dominant. Captain Alex Vajdova provided more power as she sent a kill whizzing through to give them a 10-point lead.

Cambridge called time out down 20-8 but Vajdova took over the match shortly afterwards, scoring four consecutive aces to give UEL the first set 25-9.

The visitors recovered their form in the second. After once again scoring the first point, Cambridge took a 3-1 lead and continued to stay ahead for much of the first half of the set.

After they went up 7-4, Fantazia got UEL back on the scoreboard with a kill and her side quickly took an 8-7 lead.

Cambridge were not daunted and retook the lead, forcing the east Londoners to call a time out, down 14-10. The squad pulled close again, but did not retake the lead until a Toth kill put them ahead 20-19.

In control again, UEL tried to finish out the set quickly and had a set point at 24-20, but the away side scored twice.

The hosts called a timeout to settle their nerves and the move paid off as they won the next point and went into the third looking for a clean sweep.

Cambridge scored first again, but just like in the first set, a pair of aces, this time from Vajdova, put UEL in a strong position.

The home side never trailed again as they raced out to a 12-4 lead. Points for the visitors became scarce and the east Londoners quickly put an end to the match winning the third and final set 25-9.

UEL remain undefeated and sit in second place in the South Premier with a 6-0 record.