Volleyball squads chase Student Cup glory

East London Advertiser: UEL's men's volleyball squad are chasing cup honoursUEL's men's volleyball squad are chasing cup honours (Image: Archant)

The University of East London will look to make home court advantage count at the Volleyball England Student Cup finals this weekend.

UEL welcomes Britain’s top university volleyball players to SportsDock and will have three of its own teams chasing honours in the elite competition.

The hosts will be the most represented university at the two-day event and will be hoping to go one better than last year’s semi-finals finish, with backing from the local community.

The east London sides will be hoping to continue their successful seasons in the Student Cup, with the men currently lying in second place in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) South Premier League in their top-flight debut.

The women’s team are unbeaten in the South Eastern 1A League, having only dropped a single set all season, and are also into the last 16 of the BUCS Trophy and aiming to be the first UEL team to reach the final.

The VE Student Cup finals will be a challenging weekend, but UEL staff and students remain confident.

“This semester, the women remained unbeaten in their BUCS League in the drive for promotion,” said UEL’s head volleyball coach Tomasz Morawski.

“They hope to be joining the men in the BUCS Premiership and becoming the first-ever female team in the University of East London to achieve the highest level of domestic university competition.”

Men’s captain Scott Weninger added: “By hosting the Student Cup finals we believe we can give a good showing and are confident that we can go all the way.”

The VE Student Cup Finals take place at SportsDock on February 7-8, with free admission. Doors open at 9am on Saturday.

SportsDock is a world class sports facility and available for events. UEL offers volleyball scholarships to elite volleyball players.