Coach Simon Loftus pleased with performance of side in opener

The University Of East London men’s volleyball team made a bright start to the new season as they beat City University London 3-1.

It was a close encounter between two London sides with the visitors putting up a tough fight.

However, the east Londoners stormed ahead with a two-nil lead, before UCL pulled a set back.

That failed to deter the hosts, however, as they came back strong in the end and finished the game off to secure their first win of the campaign.

Coach Simon Loftus said: “It’s our first game and we’re a brand new team with five or six first years playing.

“We’re still trying to understand what each one of us can do. The pre-season was short, so for that to be our first game it was okay and quite encouraging.”

The visitor’s brought the game to UEL as all four sets were very competitive. Valiant performances from Neil Horan and Jermaine Miles, however, in the first guided their side over the line with a nervous 25-22 win.

As the game grew, so did UCL. A bright start defensively from the visitors gave them a healthy eight-point advantage.

But, with the game looking comfortable, UEL stormed back to win the second 25-21 as Daniel Schmidtke took centre stage and won the set point.

The third was much like the previous set as UCL went ahead, but UEL scored heavily to keep up with the visitors.

It was a tough set and a few poor defensive decisions gave UCL the opportunity to get a strong foot in the match and take the set 27-26.

UEL responded strongly, though, and were looking good defensively with Gervaise Bynoe impressing.

He was decisive with decision making on the court, which gave the opportunity for the exciting attacker Miles to get into his rhythm and tally up his points.

The east Londoners sailed ahead and the home side comfortably wrapped up the fourth and final set 25-12.

It was a brilliant display from Bynoe, whose defensive attributes really came off for UEL in the later, intense stages of the sets.

Going forward the likes of Miles and Schmidtke looked strong and overall it all paid off for the hosts as they secured their first three points of the season. Next up is Exeter.