With 3 wins out of 3 in BUCS competitions under their belts and the knowledge that a win over Warwick would send them to the top of the table it was time for Loughborough Women’s 1 Volleyball team to show the rest of the university what they were capable of.
Warwick won toss-up and selected to serve but straight away Loughborough won the point and the right to serve. Loughborough quickly settled into the game and took a comfortable lead. Strong defence at backcourt allowed for strong attacks from the frontcourt and by the time Warwick called for their first time out the score was 18-9.
With the 1st set in their grasps it didn’t take long for Loughborough to close it out with the score at the end of the set 25-14.
Loughborough started of the 2nd set like they had finished the 1st and quickly took control. The fantastic support from the crowd (and some interesting chants from the rest of the volleyball club) only added fuel to the fire. With Loughborough serving, hitting and blocking well, Warwick once again felt the pressure and called a time out with the score at 12-5. The time out didn’t put Loughborough off their stride and they quickly finished off the 2nd set 25-13.
With the knowledge that they only needed to take the one more set it order to win the match the mood during the team talk was cheerful. Unfortunately, the third set didn’t get off to such a great start with a mixture of strong attacks from Warwick and defensive errors from Loughborough gifting Warwick a 6 point lead as Loughborough opted for a time out.
Some strong words of encouragement from captain Beth Lowney helped Loughborough come back fighting and they quickly closed the gap to 22-18. With the fans behind them it seemed like a comeback was on the cards. Once again a great pick-up from backcourt and some superb hitting from frontcourt helped Loughborough not only come back and take the set 25-22 but also take the match with a comfortable 3-0 win.
The win over Warwick puts Loughborough Women’s 1 top of the BUCS table and also adds to an impressive run of form in all competitions.
