Just shy of 50 teams descended upon Dundee at the weekend looking with aim of qualification to the COCO5 finals weekend or the chance to be crowned SVA District Cup Champions.
The Saturday saw teams from across Scotland looked to take the final step into the senior finals of the Scottish Cup and Scottish Plate.
Livingston Lizards and Caledonia West were looking to reach a cup final in their first season the SVL, standing in the way of Livingston Lizards were Su Ragazzi II, who have won the competition in 3 out of the last 6 years. This experience showed as they edged the Lizards out 3-0.
Caledonia West’s opponents St. Andrews University were looking to make it to both male and female finals alongside Su Ragazzi, however the young girls from the West Coast put in a mature performance to reach the final. The Men’s student team also had similar bad luck as they were beaten by a great blend of youth and experience in NUVOC II, 3-1.
Su Ragazzi II’s girls team did manage to make it a double after grinding out a win against City rivals Glasgow International, 3-1.
The first of the COCO5 Scottish Cup semi-finals were extremely dramatic as Su Ragazzi men looking to avenge their John Syer Grand Prix defeat in the same hall last month took on an in form South Ayrshire team that was full of confidence.
A tremendous display of strong serving followed by strong blocking put the Ayrshire side in a dominant position with a 2-0 set lead before Su Ragazzi rallied back taking the third set. The fourth set was full of great commitment to keep the ball alive and could have went either way, when at 22-22 the impressive Stuart Edgar Roof blocked 2015 player of the year Eddie Gorecki galvanising South Ayrshire to take the set 27-25 and qualify for their first ever Scottish Cup final.
The Women’s semi-final also feature a match-up between Su Ragazzi and
Ayrshire, this time Troon VC were to be the opponents, it was upon this stage of last year’s competition that lead to big changes in the Troon VC set-up, however they were not able to go one step further this year as Su Ragazzi proved dominant at the crucial points to qualify for the final.
The 2nd women’s semi-final was a repeat of last year’s final with City of Edinburgh looking to repeat last year’s success against their Edinburgh rivals to take one step closer to a fourth consecutive Scottish Cup title. They were made to work extremely hard as the Stepien-Crusey combination worked to devastating affect at times, but it wasn’t enough as City edged over the line, 3-1.
The final place in the COCO5 Cup finals weekend for seniors was taken by City of Edinburgh men defeating last years finalists NUVOC with a professional performance 3-0.
The COCO5 Scottish Cup and COCO5 Scottish Plate finals will be as follows:
| Women’s Scottish Plate | Su Ragazzi II | vs | Caledonia West |
| Men’s Scottish Plate | Su Ragazzi II | vs | NUVOC II |
| Men’s Scottish Cup | City of Edinburgh | vs | South Ayrshire |
| Women’s Scottish Cup | City of Edinburgh | vs | Su Ragazzi |
Graeme Spowart
Club & Participation Development Officer