Spectators flocked to the University of Dundee on Sunday to witness 
two extremely competitive finals in a hall which was full of noise.
Last year’s Winners City of Edinburgh Men and Su Ragazzi Women qualified for the finals so they could fight to retain their titles in front of a big crowd in Dundee.
City of Edinburgh Men came off a recent 3-2 defeat to their Opponents City of Glasgow Ragazzi into this match with a point to prove. The team from Glasgow showed confidence in their ability throughout the first set but it was the boys from Edinburgh who took the first set 25-17.
With a big crowd watching this match, you would have thought this match was in front of 10,000 people the noise that was being generated from both sets of supporters. Both teams fought every rally and challenged each other to the point of exhaustion at times. The City boys did enough again this set to win the 2nd 25-23.
As what happened the previous match, City gave themselves a good lead in the 3rd set but the Ragazzi guys kept plugging away putting the City boys under pressure before the team from Edinburgh managed to creep across the finish line with a 26-24 3rd set victory. City retain their title in Dundee and will hope they can give themselves a springboard to success for the rest of the season.
City of Edinburgh 3 City of Glasgow Ragazzi 0 (25-17, 25-23, 26-24)
The Women’s final was between last year’s winners Su Ragazzi and SVL Premier Newcomers University of Edinburgh. This match was between the precision and tactical Su Ragazzi and the physically dominant University side.
The University side got off to a flyer pressing Su and making it hard for them to score. Some big blocks and good transition play allowed the University side to take the first set 25-20 in a confident manner.
The 2nd set started off the same as the first but Su were determined and brought the University into some long battles which the University side could not counter. Su were running away with this and managed to close it out 25-17.
Su have started to get a hold of the match and put pressure on the uni side from the service line, but also picked holes in their defence. Su upped their blocking strategy which meant the Uni had to try and re-adjust their game plan but with no success.
Su just needed one more set to retain their title and their dominance in back court frustrating the uni fire power was evident as it drew more errors out of the university side. Some great defence and counter attack by the Glasgow side helped them reach their goal of retaining the John Syer Grand Prix.
It was a great fight by both teams but the Su girls showed the experience and the cohesion needed to win finals at this level.
Su Ragazzi 3 University of Edinburgh 1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-16)
You can view the photos here (Courtesy of www.volleyballphotos.co.uk).
