News

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ULU Ladies are the National Cup winners of 2008!

ULU Ladies, in their debut in the National Cup, beat Polonia 3-2 (20-25, 25-14, 16-25, 25-22, 15-10) in the National Cup final hosted in Bath! MVP of the final was awarded to ULU's Marietta Vafea. Well done! The game will be broadcast in Sky Sports; the schedule is available here. More details about the match at the EVA report. Check out some pictures and some action images from the game.

ULU Ladies are the BUSA Champions of 2008!

ULU Ladies beat Loughborough 2-0 (25-19, 25-11) in the final in Sheffield only to become the BUSA Champions of 2008! MVP of the touranment was awarded to ULU's Zhenja Livka. Well done!

ULU Ladies in the Cup finals!

ULU Ladies beat Wessex-Team Bath (currently 1st in National Div 1 with only one defeat before the game against ULU) to reach the National Cup finals.

ULU Ladies keep on winning

At the end of 2007, ULU women have continued to perform at a high level winning all their matches without dropping a single set in the three competitions in which they have been taking part: BUSA South-East Tier 1, London League and, for the first time since 2002, the EVA National Cup. With a core of players remaining from last year and a number of excellent new recruits ULU ladies are going from strength to strength, including wins over two National League Division 1 sides.

Two BUSA tournaments have been held so far, where ULU convincingly won against UCL, Sussex, Kent, King's and Royal Holloway. They will play each of the five teams again at the final tournament to be held on the 3rd February 2008 at Bethnal Green Sports Centre. Come along to cheer!

In the London League, ULU ladies convincingly beat Dynamo Dykes early on in the season, and put in an excellent performance against White Eagles, who had recruited a few NVL Div 2 players from Polonia on the day. Distractions in the form of twisted ankles and missing referees in the matches against Lionhearts, Inter and IVA did not stop ULU from powering on to victory. The highlight of the London League season must have been the match against old rivals Swiss Cottage, now playing in National League Div 1, who despite putting on an impressive play of power in the warm-up were unable to match the consistency of the ULU ladies, who won the match 25-12, 25-23, 25-16.

In the National Cup, the first match was away against Sussex Dolphins. ULU dominated this match and was soon on their way back to London with a 3-0 victory. The second round match was against NVL Division 1 side Ashcombe, who, as a result of injuries, turned up at Bacon's College with only 6 players. ULU coach Mark Kontopolous had the luxury of having a full squad. Starting with Christina setting, Helen opposite, Elena and Gabi outside and Ioanna and Elfi middle with Tonia playing libero, ULU put in a strong performance to take the first set to 20. In the second set, Kathleen came in for Helen and Ellen came in to serve for Ioanna at 20:11, successfully scoring 3 points in a row. Ashcombe followed with a short comeback, but it was too late and ULU took the set to 14. In the final set, Ellen came in for Elena and Jess played opposite for the second half of the set, which after a total match time of just over one hour also went ULU's way 25-17.

Food, food, glorious food at Angie's and Andrew's wedding

Angelica Bonci, ULU-alumnus and long-time London League secretary for ULU ladies married her beloved Andrew Marchant, long-time ULU supporter, scorer, statistician and honorary ULU member in a beautiful wedding in Angie's hometown Pesaro, Italy on the 8th September 2007.

The wedding was well attended by the ULU contingent, who made their way from various parts of Europe to join the festivities: Boris came with wife Gergana and daughter Natalia all the way from Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Susan made the journey from Berlin; Kathleen and Nik came from Oxford, while the Londoners were represented by Christos and fiancée Cali, Ellen and boyfriend Jon, Marietta, Valerie, Argyris, Kostas and Petros, Brenda and husband Michael, and Mark and Gabi. ULU alumnus Anita also attended with boyfriend Danny, Angie's NVL team's coach (and our bitter rivals!).

The festivities started on Friday night, when delicious apperitivos and drinks were served at the Cruiser Hotel, courtesy of Andrew's father. With half the ULU contingent still making the journey to Italy, those that had arrived early soon made their way to bed only to meet the others at the hotel, who were starving and keen to discover the ease with which one can find food at midnight in Italy (who would have thought that it would be easier in the "village" of Pesaro than in the global city of London?!)

After breakfast the majority of the ULU group made their way down to the beach, where they found a free beach court/cage and quickly set up a game of "beach" volleyball: setters Danny, Mark and Susan were paired with Brenda and Boris, while the other team was made up of Ellen, Anita, Gabi, Kostas, Petros and Argyris. Kathleen's back problems meant she was happy to take on the position of referee and official photographer - Nik was later substituted for Susan. Kostas' foot problems appeared to be a thing of the past, while Boris was nominated for the position of libero; Gabi thought that serving with her hair stuck in the net/cage surrounding the court was a good idea; laughter was widespread while many locals stopped to watch the impressive skills being demonstrated on court. Lunch was a quick bite of pizza on the promenade, accompanied by 2-euro cokes, before everyone rushed back to the hotel to shower and decide what to wear for the wedding.

By 3pm, we were all waiting for the coach to pick us up to take us to church - half an hour later and still no sign of the bus. Finally it arrived claiming to have gotten lost somewhere in the two blocks between the other hotel and ours... no matter, we were on the road and presumably still on time. At least that is what we hoped - our confidence was dented slightly when the driver stopped on a curvy, narrow, steep road to ask a passing car "Dove e la chiesa Santo Stefano?" This was then followed by another narrowing of the road, when the coach and an oncoming bus decided there would be no problem passing each other without either vehicle having to back up. Having moved his side mirrors inwards, the coach inched past the other bus, while we waved and smiled at the passengers and hoped that the bus driver was aware that we were only about 2cm and a loud crash away from being able to shake hands with them.

The congregation then gathered in the glorious sunshine in front of the church as a car with a bride in it pulled up - Andrew made his way down to open the door and help his future wife out of the car... only to find that it was an impostor, with a moustache, and hairy legs! The real Angie's car arrived soon after and Angie stepped out looking gorgeous. Everyone made their way into the church for the ceremony. Translations in English and French were available on every seat so that us "foreigners" could follow the proceedings and the priest had even prepared a few words in English to make us feel welcome. Andrew's nerves didn't show at all as he said "I do" to his wife and the newly married couple stayed in the church to sign their wedding register, while the congregation crowded outside ready to pelt the happy couple with rose petals and rice.

Once the first round of congratulations had been made, the couple drove off in their newly acquired Mini and the rest of us crowded back on to the bus for the 45-minute ride into the venue in the mountains, where we were greeted with the first of many many courses. The apperitivos were delicious and were soon followed by hors d'oeuvres. We sat outside overlooking the beautiful, hilly landscape of La Marche until the couple arrived and we made our way to the table named "Queen Anne's Revenge", which had been reserved for the ULU and Swiss Cottage crowd. Food kept coming and it was wonderful: the first course was two different dishes of pasta, while the second course was pork with potatoes followed by ostrich with vegetables. Dessert was a gorgeous wedding cake and a buffet of sweets. Dinner started at approximately 6pm and continued until midnight, interspersed by speeches from the bride and groom's fathers, the groom himself and his best man. Angie's Italian volleyball coach even organised a volleyball match between Angie and Andrew (and refereed by Antia), which Angie successfully won despite attempts by Boris and Argyris to help Andrew by moving the net down whenever it was his turn to hit the ball.

After dinner the dancing began and we all hit the dance floor to burn off some of the calories that we had gained while sipping on limoncello and grappa until the bus was ready to take us back to the hotels at 2:30a.m. Angie and Andrew stood outside waving us all goodbye, awaiting to retire to their room to spend their first night together as man and wife. We hope they are having a wonderful honeymoon in Greece!

Iliya-Thomas

The first purely-ULU offspring was born on the 3rd of September 2007 at 18:55. ULU alumni Kati Beier and Nassos Vafeidis are the proud parents. Congratulations!

Beach season 2007 finale

In the Volleyball England Beach Tour finals in Brighton, Gabi Medricka came second with her partner Denise Austin in a closely fought match against Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns, the number one GB pairing. Other ULU players included Kathleen Noreisch, who placed 9th with Swiss Cottage's Leila Jaibaji, Brenda Kostelecky who placed 13th with her sister Melissa and Nicolas Ruh and Albrecht Glitz, who placed 7th.

The weekend also saw Gabi crowned the overall women's champion in the rankings, as well as Best Receiver and Most Valuable Player in an awards ceremony held on the evening of Saturday 1st September. Gabi was furthermore recognised for her unwavering support to the tour, which extended far beyond the call of duty and involved countless early mornings and late evenings helping set up and take down nets and courts. ULU was also represented at the awards ceremony by Albrecht Glitz, who was voted Best Server by his peers. Congratulations to both! And congratulations to women's coach Mark Kontopolous, who spent the summer as his other role of GB Beach Commissioner in successfully organising a very enjoyable and memorable summer of excellent events.

ULU beach ladies in the news

ULU ladies, Gabi Medricka and Kathleen Noreisch featured in a number of London papers (Evening Standard, the LondonPaper) on Friday alongside interview quotes from women's coach and Volleyball England Beach Commission President Mark Kontopoulos as part of the promotion for the Regent's Park event last weekend. They also featured in an interview on LBC radio with Ben Taylor.

Check out the Evening Standard article and the reference in TimeOut London.

Beach news

This summer on the beach, Gabi Medricka of ULU has been dominating the VEBT scene and currently leads the rankings by over 200 points! She placed 3rd at the Queen of the Beach tournament in Croyde in early June, winning in Bridlington and Ruislip with partner Mel Coutts and again in Margate with partner Ange Clarke. At Sandbanks, her and partner Denise Austin just lost out in a closely fought finals against GB number one pairing Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns. At Weymouth, playing with Denise Austin, she placed third.

In the men's, Albrecht started the season in strong form taking the King of the Beach title, placing third in Margate with long-term partner and ULU alumni Hendrik Neubert, 5th in Sandbanks with Michas Saller of Polonia and just missing out on another Weymouth victory, losing in 3 sets with partner Steve Fee last weekend. Breda Kostelecky was the only ULU player to brave the long trip to Skegness, where she placed 2nd with her sister Melissa.

The event in Regent's Park (4-5/8) saw the return of a number of ULU players to the beach - Kathleen and Gabi hoped to find their winning form again but only placed 5th, Marietta partnered Janine Sandell and placed 5th - good work considering it's only Marietta's 2nd serious tournament ever and was placed above teams consisting of GB players, who train at a daily basis! Student Cup partners Ellen and Brenda had a tough pool and placed 16th. In the men's, Nik partnered Klaus Thummert (NVL Cambridge, 3rd place at student cup) and placed 9th. Albrecht returned to his long-term partner Hendrik but lost out in the quarter-finals to the winners Jody Gooding and Morph Bowes, thereby placing 5th. Back on the beach after a long time was Spyros Masouros, partnered by Dimitris Balagiannis from Reading, who also had a tough pool and placed 17th. A number of other ULU members and alumni were sighted over the course of the weekend, out to enjoy the sunshine and support their team-mates: Boris with his wife Gergana and the latest addition to the family Natalia, Meghan brought her books along to prove she wasn't really "taking a break", Sabine, Sarah, Marina, Cristina, Petros, Kostas and Christos.

Welcome Natalia!

Boris and Gergana Halatchev are the proud parents to Natalia, who was born on June 5th and looks exactly like her father. Congratulations!

ULU men and women win Beach Student Cup in Brighton

ULU men, Albrecht Glitz and Nicolas Ruh successfully defended the men's Beach Volleyball Student Cup title on the weekend of 10th-11th June at the Nivea Sun Yellowave facility in Brighton. Bringing home the double for ULU were Gabi Medricka and Kathleen Noreisch, who won in the women's competition. Two more ULU women's teams tied for 3rd place: Zhenja Livca and Marietta Vafea, and our new Italian signings Romy Greco and Elena Canestrari. The final ULU women's team saw Brenda Kostelecky partnering Ellen Helsper, who placed 9th overall. Fabio Saguato and Kevin Spellman placed 7th in the men's competition.

The first day consisted of pool play and although the original draw put Gabi and Kathleen in the same pool as Vicky Palmer and Kerri Olding, defending champions from Bath, a corrected draw saw them moved to another pool, where the Bath girls scored more points than the ULU team, giving them the first seed. Marietta and Zhenja had an interesting pool with three teams of experienced indoor players (themselves, Nynke Hofstra and Jana Orszaghova of Oxford, and Helen McIntyre and Bethan Shaffery of Cambridge), and the girls did well to come top of the pool, despite Marietta's sore shoulder and both girls' lack of beach experience. The other ULU teams also all went on to win their pools. Tied points in the men's meant that Kathleen got to draw lots for Al and Nik to give them the 3rd seed, as they fought with the campsite owner over whether or not 10 people constituted a group (the drama at the campsite continued later with smaller groups claiming they were couples or families in order to gain access and later on having to deal with interrogations by the night watchmen while legitimately making their way to their tents). The afternoon and the following day saw the continuation of matches in a double-elimination.

The first ULU clash came when Gabi and Kathleen met Romy and Elena in the quarter finals. Despite even scores at the beginning, Gabi and Kathleen took both sets convincingly and went to find out who their semi-final opponents would be, expecting Bath's 2nd team of experienced beach players, Helen Brown and Rachel Turner to beat Marietta and Zhenja. But Marietta and Zhenja had other plans and fought to the wire in the 3rd set, demonstrating effective hitting and blocking and taking the final set by two points, thus setting up yet another ULU clash in the semis. Despite taking the first set quite easily, Kathleen and Gabi struggled in the second but managed to win nonetheless. In the meantime, Romy and Elena had made it into the other semi-final, where they met Vicky and Kerri, who proved to be the more dominant team in the sand. And so it was Bath vs. ULU in the finals, a repeat of this year's BUSA finals, where Bath came out on top. And what followed was surprisingly similar, yet with the opposite outcome: Bath took the first set 15-10, ULU took the second 15-12 and then Gabi outserved Vicky and Kerri, who appeared to fall apart in the third, ULU taking the set comfortably 15-6. In the men's, Albrecht and Nik met Oxford boys Brian Ball and Dennis Zuev in the semi finals, which they won quite convincingly. The other semi had been close between Rob Flay and Barry McGuigan of Bath going to three sets against Klaus Thummert and Erich De Francesco Schreiber of Anglia Ruskin. The finals were exciting and followed a similar pattern to the women's - ULU lost the first set and then took the next two. Albrecht's jump serves were out in full force again and Nik's defence impressive as always.

Check out the Volleyball England report and some pictures from the event

ULU women cannot stop winning

In its first ever appearance at the prestigious Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament, the University of London Union (ULU) women's team prevailed over very strong opposition to capture first place in the Division of Honour over the weekend of 26/27 May.

A late departure from London on Friday evening and a gruelling 8-hour drive meant that the team did not arrive in Perth until 3:00 on Saturday morning. After less than 4 hours' sleep at the tournament's makeshift campsite, the team was on court competing in Pool B of the Division of Honour.

In the first match, ULU came up against Scottish National League Division 1 side Glasgow Mets. After a slow start, the team found its rhythm and cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Straight back on court for match #2 of the day, the team's next match was against North Lanarkshire Volleyball Club - another Scottish NVL Division 1 side. Despite some sloppy play, ULU's power at the net and consistency on the pass saw the team reach another straight sets victory. The 3rd match and last match of the day saw the team up against USA Athletes International, a team comprised of a selection of American college volleyball players, most of whom are on scholarships and play for top teams back at home. With both teams undefeated so far, this match was to determine first place in the pool. ULU started the game with some excellent passing, setting and attacking which, combined with several uncharacteristic errors by USA Athletes International, took the team to a surprisingly easy 1st set win (25-12). The American side was not about to give up though and the 2nd set saw a complete role reversal with ULU making the errors and USA Athletes International stepping up their game to take the set 15-25. The third set was a very close affair with both teams siding out very efficiently. Some excellent defensive play by the London side swayed the deciding set in their favour and completed a great victory.

On Sunday morning, ULU faced yet another Scottish NVL Division 1 side, Rucanor Jets. With a dominant all-around performance and some excellent serving which did not allow the Jets to find any rhythm on their offence, ULU earned a well-deserved place in the Division of Honour final. In the final, ULU were up against Troon, a very strong side who are also the 2007 Scottish National Champions. A nervous start and some uncharacteristic unforced errors by both teams soon made way to a great display of top volleyball. After several lead changes in the first set, Troon came back from behind to hang on and close out the set at 22-25. In the second set, both teams stepped it up a notch and made for a great spectacle with exciting plays, powerful hitting at the net, gutsy defence and several lead changes. This time, it was ULU's turn to come back from behind and take the set (25-23), forcing the match into a tie-breaker. ULU started the set with the same rhythm and intensity as they had closed out the 2nd set, but Troon were a little bit slower in getting back into the game. The London side built up an early 4-point cushion and then hung on to close out the set and match at 15-10, therefore capping an excellent weekend of volleyball and a great success for ULU and student volleyball in general.

What happened during the 1st half of 2007

It's been an exciting second half of the season again for ULU. Both teams have once again dominated in the London League Premier divisions, but came just short of taking home any silverware in the student competitions. Hopes are up that this will change on the beach, with a number of ULU teams entering for the EVA Beach Student Cup to be held in Brighton on the 9th and 10th June. Here's a brief summary of what has been going on since January.

ULU women were undefeated in the London League Premier Division this season, dropping only four sets along the way. They had their last league match on April 27th, beating Whitton 3-0. Although the sides were evenly matched in the first set, ULU found their way back into the game after the injury of their star player and took the next two sets convincingly, finishing the match in under an hour. The ladies are now looking forward to playing their London rivals Swiss Cottage and Lionhearts with guests Plaisance Du Touch from Toulouse in a tournament on Saturday 5th May at SCORE in Leyton, as well as travelling north to Perth in Scotland over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May.

ULU men currently lead the London League Premier Division with only one loss and four matches to go. However, some of the men have also been busy playing in NVL Division 1 and in the EVA National Cup. While Spyros Masouros' team Polonia came 3rd (trailing defending champions Malory by only a few sets), Docklands, the team that boasts the likes of ULU players Nicolas Ruh, Boris Halatchev and Albrecht Glitz not only finally took the league title from Malory after years of being second best, but also denied Malory the cup title in an exciting match in Sheffield at the end of April (more details here).

Student Cup took place in Leeds as usual. After a closely fought 3 set match against Loughborough in the semis, the ULU men took on Sheffield Hallam in the finals once again. But history was not to repeat itself this year - ULU were missing Albrecht Glitz at the tournament which he has dominated for years and after losing the first set badly, the ULU men recovered in the second, although Hallam managed to close the set at 26-24. Lucky for them since most of the ULU boys were sure that if they had taken the second, the momentum would have once again swung in ULU's favour. The women were missing a number of starting players due to sickness and NVL commitments, yet still showed up in Leeds with a very strong squad. They stormed through the first round and won the quarter finals against Nottingham to 13 and 8! Yet they were once again stopped by the Dubliners in the semis, losing 2-0 and left to face Oxford in the 3rd place playoffs. Here history did repeat itself and as usual, ULU easily beat Oxford to 19 and 17.

In BUSA, both teams continued their undefeated streak in Tier 1 of the South-East League, with ULU men easily beating Bristol 3-0 in the knock-out. The women gained a walkover over Southampton after a number of scheduling problems. Hopes were high as both teams headed to the championships with full, healthy squads. While the ULU men had few problems making their way to the finals, the women faced a strong Bath team early on in their pool. Nonetheless, they came second in the pool and made their way to set up another meeting with Bath in the finals. Despite coming out strongly and taking the first set to 16, ULU struggled in the second with Bath closing the set at 22. Bath clearly dominated in the third, serving and blocking effectively. ULU men also made their way to the finals relatively easily to set up yet another meeting with Sheffield Hallam - one of the Hallam players jokingly suggested we might as well skip the previous rounds next year and jump straight to the ULU-Hallam showdown. Hallam continued their good streak from Student Cup and even the presence of Albrecht Glitz was not enough to allow ULU to take home the trophy again (watch a video of the final here). Spirits were subdued on the journey back to London, in stark contrasts to the celebrations that took place a year ago.

Even off season ULU women keep winning. On May 5th, ULU beat London rivals Lionhearts and Swiss Cottage in a tournament organised by Lionhearts for their coach Thomas' hometown team, Plaisance du Touch. ULU beat Plaisance du Touch on points in the pool round, but refused to let a set slip as they had done earlier in the day during the finals, winning against the visitors 2-0. The evening was then completed with inter-team mingling at Anexo in Shoreditch, where the players enjoyed a delicious 3 course meal, happy hour and practising their French with the visitors - we'll have to practice a lot more if we do take up their invitation to visit them next spring!

Now that summer's here, there is the beach season to get excited about with Kathleen Noreisch and Gabi Medricka partnering up to play in the EVA Beach Student Cup, as well as Ellen Helsper and Brenda Kostelecky. In the men's, ex-flatmates Albrecht Glitz and Nicolas Ruh as well as Kevin Spellman and Fabio Saguato want to defend the ULU title.

Other exciting news includes the upcoming wedding of Angelica Bonci and long-time supporter Andrew Marchant in September as well as the long awaited arrival of new additions to ULU's next generation: the newly wedded Halatchevs await their baby girl (they think!) in June and ULU alumni and legends Nassos Vafeidis and Kati Beier are expecting their first child in September.

2007 here we come!

2006 was an exceptionally successful year for ULU volleyball. Not only did the men and women both win the London League Premier Division and reach the finals of the London Challenge Trophy, faring extremely well against London's National League Division 1 teams, but the men won the Student Cup and the men's and women's students teams came home with both BUSA trophies, allowing them to participate at the European University Championships in Eindhoven! Furthermore, the recreational sessions enjoyed extreme popularity under the expert guidance of Gabi, ending their season by participating in an outdoor mixed tournament as part of the London Challenge Trophy finals at Crystal Palace.

In other words, this year's teams have a lot to live up to if they want to replicate these feats! So where do we stand at the beginning of 2007 and in the middle of the 2006/2007 season? Here's a quick summary with some highlights:

The women continue to dominate the London League premier division, having beaten arch-rivals Swiss Cottage in the first match of the season 3-1, and thrashed their other opponents. Swiss Cottage lost another match to Lionhearts in the meantime, placing ULU clearly at the top with little expectation that this will change.

The men have had a tougher time, with many players suffering from injury, the demands of work and studies, and a few from that well-known disease called laziness. Close matches against White Eagles and Spikers 1 ended up going the right way in the end, while the closest match of the season against White Eagles 2 was lost on a rotation fault in the 5th set. But WE2 have lost to TH Lynx in the meantime, opening up the possibility for another London League double for ULU again this year.

For a change, student volleyball players arriving in London this year were mainly female. As usual, none of them were English. While the women's team benefited greatly from the arrival of Chileans Cristina and Marina, Sabine (Latvia), Kirsten (Belgium), Rachel (America), Meg (Canada) and Virginia (Italy), as well as Juliana's (Macau) decision to play for ULU rather than Royal Holloway this year, the men gained only three new recruits: Uri (Israel), Cuba (Poland) and the singing Greek, Thomas.

As defending champions the men did not have to qualify for this year's Student Cup finals; conversely, the women had to make the trip up to Hertfordshire at the beginning of November to earn their place in Leeds. With many new players on court, the beginning of the first match against Bath 2 was rocky, but it as well as the following matches against Bristol and Kent were eventually won convincingly.

Tier 1 of the South East BUSA league is once again being played in tournament format. The first tournament of the season was hosted by Kent in Canterbury - despite an early scare against Essex (were Cuba saved the day with the most perfect slow-motion cut at 15-15 in the 3rd set) little optimism prior to the match versus Reading and 5 matches to play on the day, the ULU men valiantly sported their tight kits, sponsored by QMResearch and defended their title as South East champions. The women had little competition and cruised to victory in every match. The second tournament hosted in London saw both ULU men and women win all their matches relatively easily, and make a little money on the side for the club by selling self-made sandwiches and drinks.

The second half of the season begins with training in early January, a large number of London League matches still to be played and then peaks with the Student Cup in mid-February, the BUSA knock-out matches at the end of February and assuming all goes well, the BUSA finals in mid-March! European University Championship veterans are already speaking about Croatia in July… 2007 here we come! Tininnini!

First ULU Volleyball wedding - or how ULU learnt to dance (August 2006)

After announcing their engagement at the ULU Volleyball Club dinner in December 2005, Boris, who has for years filled the position of club London League secretary, club plumber and club taxi driver married his high-school sweetheart Gergana on the 26th August 2006 in their hometown of Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

The wedding was attended by ULU alumni Nassos Vafeidis and Kati Beier, Angie Bonci and Andrew Marchant, a.k.a. women's team statistician, scorer and faithful fan - also representing the alumni was Petros Machlis. Current students Marietta Vafea, Spyros Masouros, Kathleen Noreisch, Nicolas Ruh and Albrecht Glitz and men's coach Christos Vasilakis were also in attendance.

The afternoon began with the ULU and Docklands delegation taking taxis to Gergana's home (Bulgarian taxi drivers winning the prize for crazy driving, having lost the Greek delegation, who were in their own car, when the taxis ran a number of red lights), where we were welcomed with vodka, whiskey and scores of Gergana's non-English speaking relatives. After having the first few drinks, we heard music from outside, the women were shuffled into Gergana's childhood bedroom and the men were instructed to hold the front door. Within minutes Boris was at the banging on the door demanding to be let in. After relatively little huffing and puffing, Boris, his relatives and friends were let in - upon seeing his teammates, his first comment was, "You are supposed to be on my side!" He soon rushed to the door of his fiancé's room and began the huffing and puffing all over again. Angie and Kathleen helped hold the door shut, while Gergana's sister Maria handed Gergana's shoe to Boris, the idea being that we would not let him in until Gergana accepted the amount of money Boris had put in the shoe for her. The shoe returned with 1 Leva (the equivalent of 30p), to which Gergana replied that the shoe was still too big - but the sweltering heat meant that Gergana finally agreed to wed Boris for only 8 leva and 16 stotinky.

After ULU players made their first pathetic attempts at learning the steps of the easiest Bulgarian folkdance in the street in front of Gergana's home with neighbours looking on from the surrounding apartment buildlings, everyone made their way to the church in the centre of town. Realizing that numerous weddings were taking place and that we might have to wait a while, the Greek delegation and Kati sat down in a cafe to while away the time. The next time we saw them, the couple had already been wed in a short but sweet ceremony (Boris had allegedly told the priest that if it were longer than 20 minutes, he would walk out) involving crowns passed from one head to another, two candles tied with a string and the burning of incense.

After numerous photographs, the party moved on to the reception venue and the civil wedding at the Novotel Plovdiv. Christos almost missed this wedding as well, being busy trying to make a phone call to… was it his mother!? ULU had the honour of being seated at the first MACA (pronounced masa, not maka - thanks Mira) next to the bridal table. Due to the over-representation of ULU compared with Docklands, Nik, Kathleen and Albrecht were relegated to the Docklands table, where Martin Blake of Docklands referred to Kathleen as a "Docklands groupie". The one thing we all learnt that evening was that a Bulgarian wedding is not about the food, it's all about the dancing and Boris led the way from beginning to end (and about breaking glasses, stepping on feet and kissing, kissing, kissing - in all the years we have known Boris, we have never seen him kiss Gergana as often as he did that night!). By the time the Londoners had made it to the third course, the Bulgarians were all still on their first, being far too occupied with the dancing. But ULU and Docklands showed no fear of the dance floor once their bellies were full, not only learning and according to Gergana actually becoming good at some of the traditional Bulgarian folk dances, but also teaching the Bulgarians the very complicated steps to our own traditional song, "YMCA". By the end of the night, it was the London Volleyballers, who had taken over the dance floor, while the Bulgarians returned to their tables (and most likely to their cold food). Although Marietta (and Petros) were reluctant to dance, Spyros stole the show with his greek dance, despite claims of never having danced it before. Albrecht and Christos danced the night away as always and as soon as the Bulgarian music came on, Nik jumped to his feet. Kathleen not only got blisters but also broke her shoes after desperately trying to make it to the end of the 8-minute folk dance. Nassos was briefly spotted on the dancefloor before passing out outside the venue and being virtually carried home to bed by Kati, who then left him alone with his misery and came back to enjoy the rest of the evening. Angie and Andrew showed off their tango skills and Andrew tried to teach Marietta some "sexy" dance moves - suprisingly it didn't motivate her to start dancing.

But the party didn't end there - the next evening, there was more dancing, more tequila and more delicious food at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant. The next day, Angie, Andrew, Nik, Kathleen, Christos and Petros along with Martin and Meagan of Docklands joined the newly wed couple and their sisters for a short holiday at the Black Sea, where they were pounded by a summer rain storm, were sang to in Italian, Greek and German by a group of gypsies at the Serbian Grill (more dancing involved), lay in the sun and played beach volleyball and yuker Bulgarian style, decided Kamenitza (made in Plovdiv) was better than Zagorka and that a pint was 568ml (thanks Martin), and most importantly made sure that Andrew had a view of the sea at dinner every evening and ate lots and lots of cake.

Whoever ties the knot next - your upcoming weddings have a lot to live up to!

For more pictures and stories, see also www.londondocklandsvc.com

Top quotes from our trip to the European Universities Volleyball Championships in Eindhoven (July 2006)

21. You must be responsible this week. You will receive a lot of information. (Spyros)
20. Let’s take a picture! (Sara)
19. I’m in pain, I can’t move sideways, just forward and backward. (Ellen, the libero)
18. We came third!!!!!! From the end. (Ian)
17. Who is setting????? (Ellen)
(Background story: The score is 24-22, we are loosing. Mark takes Athina out, puts Ioanna in. That’s normal, except that the only other person that can set (Débora) is already sitting on the bench happily, taking photos. Following score: 25-22)
16. (As a result of previous quote) If we focus more, and if I don’t f*** up like that again, we can do it. (Marky)
15. Let’s have a little Shakira ladies!! (Kelsey)
14. We lost but at least we know what we are studying. (Valerie)
(Background story: Athina asked one of the guys from the Greek team, what do you study? And he said, I don’t know, I am here to play football)
13. Ok, let’s loose with style! (Débora)
12. Who wants bread?
(Background story: every morning we had a loaf of fresh bread each. By the end of the week we returned about 30 kgs of bread to the shocked organizers who told us: the Turks asked for more everyday!!)
11. Where is Sara? (different person every time)
10. (A Turk to Marietta) ‘My friend really really really likes you but he can’t speak English’.
9. Even cash-machines are faster in Holland. (Valerie – commenting on costumer service)
8. THIS is better than sex. (Athina)
7. Cheers love (Telma)(Also by the same) Can I ‘ave a bo’ of wa’ please?
6. Should I wear my dirty wet or my clean wet socks? (Kathleen)
(Background story: every single night we had 40 minutes of hand-washing before going to bed, and the clothes were NEVER dry because we had to get up at 6am everyday)
5. Help me, help me out of this top!!! (Greg)
(Background story: our new team shirts were inhumanely tight)
4. On average, a team’s efficiency should be 25%. In this game we scored -4%. (Mark)
3. Scott: That’s not a f*** call! Kevin: A ‘call’ is a verb. F*** is an adverb.
2. (random guy to the ULU girls) Are you the Polish football team? ‘No, we are Breeteesh’. (Kelsey)
1. We lost because we are not British. (Valerie)

ULU Volleyball Dominates the Beach! (June 2006)

The Beach volleyball season has began and ULU men completed their sweep of all national student volleyball competitions this season by dominating the first ever Beach Volleyball Student Cup in Croyde, North Devon. After the indoor Student Cup and BUSA Championship triumphs, Spyros Masouros and Savvas Genitsaris teamed up to keep the ULU Volleyball flag flying on the beach.

The pair completed the round-robin stage of the tournament with 3 convincing wins in 3 matches, despite being drawn into the strongest pool of the tournament. Their pool consisted of 3 of the eventual top 4 teams of the tournament!

They then entered the double elimination draw seeded second out of 16 teams, with a difference of only a few points from the first seeded team that competed in what was arguably a much easier pool. The team cruised through the double elimination bracket and into the final where they met the only other undefeated team so far – Rob Flay and James Cooper of Loughborough, the top seeds in the draw.

The final was exciting with some long rallies and good quality play, but the Loughborough opposition never seemed in contention as dominant blocking by Savvas and excellent defence by Spyros left the opponents without any offensive solutions. This also led to a number of unforced errors by Cooper and Flay and culminated in a 21-14, 21-16 straight sets victory for ULU.

By the end, ULU men had won all 8 of their matches in the tournament and did not drop a single set on the way.

ULU women were also worthily represented by Debora Tavares and Telma Lanca, both of whom were not only representing ULU for the first time, but also playing competitive beach volleyball for the first time!

They completed the round-robin stage with 2 emphatic victories and one loss to the University of Bath, the eventual winners of the tournament. Debora and Telma then entered the double elimination bracket seeded fourth and, after a convincing win in the first round, eventually lost to Bath again. They then ploughed their way through the losers’ bracket to earn themselves a place in the semi-finals, where they met more experienced opposition and eventually finished in a very respectable 4th place.

The first ever Beach Volleyball Student Cup was a successful one for ULU. Now the team is determined to defend the men’s title and challenge for the women’s title next summer!

Beach Volleyball tournaments will be taking place throughout the summer and across the country, with ULU players attending a lot of these with very good chances of success. Watch this space for news and updates!

ULU Women win the London League (again) undefeated (May 2006)

And with a final victory against White Eagles, the ULU women sealed the London League domination. Thank you Marky for coaching us, for being so patient with us (and especially with Val, you know, you are a hero), and for encouraging Ioanna to celebrate for once, and for being strict with us coming to training on time and buinding our six-packs as a result, and for not having a heart attack in times of crisis, and for one of the most successful seasons many of us have had in our British volleyball experience.

ULU Women (London League Team) (L-R): Standing: Mark Kontopoulos (coach), Sara Debevec, Ulrike, Kathleen Noreisch, Ioanna Karelia, Kelsey Case, Gabriella Medricka. Front: Dasha Sobornova, Valerie Wong, Ellen Helsper, Athina Vlachantoni, Angelica Bonci (captain). (Not pictured: Zeenat Mustafa, Marietta Vafea, Brenda Kostelecky)

The game the boys almost lost to White Eagles 1...(May 2006)

...was allegedly turned around by the Greek Kostas Kikiras (seen here on the left), who came on court in the second set, when ULU were down 22-15, having already lost the first set. Was it his Greek aura? Was it his hitting? Was it just positive karma? Bravo re Kostaaaaaaa

Both ULU men and women come second in the London Challenge Trophy 2006 (April 2006)

Well, basically, that's it. Both ULU men and women came second in the London Challenge Trophy 2006.

ULU spikes up Rotterdam 2006 (March 2006)

ULU teams won the first, second and seventh position in this tournament! More on this story when somebody who was there actually tells me more...

Volleyball wins 'Club of the Year' Award from the University of London (March 2006)

I got a text message about this after midnight from Marietta, I thought she was just dreaming, but no... : ))) Congratulations yet again ULU!!

ULU men and women are 2006 BUSA champions: the account of a witness (March 2006)

Now that the tequila effect has succumbed, I am in the privileged position to describe what happened between 12.00 hours on Friday 10th March and approximately 3.00 hours on Monday 13th March (exactly 24 hours before the lunar eclipse, or maybe because of that). We met at ULU, nobody was late, except Kevin who got honked so much he can't walk down Torrington Place ever again. The drive to Loughborough was fantastic: the Greek minibus (with two fans of the Greek culture Ian and Matt) and the non-Greek minibus (well, nobody is perfect!!) arrived safe and with Spyros breaking his personal record of pushing the vehicle's centrifugal force in the roundabouts.

The boys beat Essex 2-1 on Friday evening, while the girls lost to Loughborough 2-1. That's when the tininini kicked in: we went back to our cute little B&B, and some of us made the mistake to order the most salty pizza from a 'fish kebab cafeteria' or something. This caused the water shortage that the newspapers have been on about (no really, ask the Oxford people, they made the same mistake). Saturday morning was a bright and early start as the women played Sheffield at 9am, while the boys played Oxford a little later. The women won 2-1, while the men won 2-0. The final game for Saturday was against Cambridge for the women (we won 2-0) and against Harriot Watt for the men (they won 2-0). With the knowledge of having gone through to the semifinals, we had a lovely (albeit delayed) Indian meal, organized by our lovely social sec Valerie. It didn't take long: after a long day, some of our players had carried on playing in the KO Cup's semifinals that took place at the same place after the BUSA games were finished for the day (I mean, how much volleyball is enough you people?). We were asleep on the tables when the bill came. Well, everyone except Matt, who tried the 'what-do-you-mean-this-is-a-hot-plate'; trick live before everyone's eyes, and naturally suffered second-degree burns on his palm. We told everyone that he hits so hard his hand is ON FIRE. The ULU legend was so powerful that people actually believed us.(And if YOU don't believe me, check out the bandage around Matt's hand in the photos section under 'BUSA 2006'.

Sunday mornings at 6.30am in Loughborough are a bliss. The boys' semifinal against Cambridge was a test of our sense of humor. The boys lost the first set to a loud side, but you know what they say about dogs that bark: that's right, they don't bite. Our boys won 2-1, and hurried to support the girls who were facing a strong Bath team, with more coaches than players on the bench (we have one coach who counts for ten). The ladies won 2-0. Now it was a waiting game to the final, against Sheffield Hallam for the boys, and against Manchester for the girls. During those long hours, endless combinations of ULU bodies sleeping next to/ around/ on top of each other formed on the floor, and we all dreamt of, well, tininini , that is the trophy. The women's final was first. The level of the girls' play didn't allow the Manchester team to acquire a rhythm: in many ways, the final was the anti-climax of the weekend, as the girls won 2-0 with a large point difference in both sets. For the boys, the point difference was smaller, but the set result the same: 2-0. At that moment, just when ULU girls stormed into the court to give the ULU boys a group hug I have a memory gap. All I remember is TINININI , and the end of the final countdown. It was the most extraordinary display of team work that any of us has been part of, on and off the court (and the dancefloor!!). Nik and Kathleen lifted two beautiful trophies, making London only the second university in BUSA's 40-year-history to win both the men's and women's trophies in the same year. Is that cool or what?

You may think it's all over, dear reader, but being the top team of the BUSA Championship means that ULU men and women will represent British Universities in the European Championships that will take place in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) in July. Funny thing, as British players in ULU are few but faithful: Matt, Ian, Zeenat and Val who says that she 'doesn't really feel English'. Still, we will take up the challenge, tininini is calling us. Congratulations ULU, all for one and one for all, literally.

ULU Men (Christos Vasilakis): Nicolas Ruh (c), Albrecht Glitz, Kevin Spellman, Spyros Masouros, Nikos Kontos, Ian Bradley, Matt Smart.

ULU Women (Mark Kontopoulos): Kathleen Noreisch (c), Valerie Wong, Zeenat Mustafa, Marietta Vafea, Brenda Kostelecky, Ellen Helsper, Athina Vlachantoni, Erika Woods, Kelsey Case, Ioanna Karelia.

A short note on the celebrations, as promised. Five key points to report: 1) Drinking champagne out of a golden trophy in the middle of the M1 Services attracts more attention than you might think. 2) It takes a few hours for such a victory to sink in: there were several tear outbursts throughout the return journey, even as we entered familiar London surroundings. 3) According to Matt, you can tell a quality tequila shot because it doesn't leave a petrol-ey aftertaste: well, our shots were quite petrole-y. 4) It was Nik's birthday as soon as midnight came, and we made sure everyone at 101 at Centre Point knew about that. 5) Nikos can do the robot dance pretty well. Other people tried to imitate (Athina) and were told to stop being silly.

Eight volleyball players awarded ULU Purples (March 2006)

Four male and four female volleyball players will be awarded ULU Purples at the Purples Ball on March 17th. The recipients are Kelsey Case, Savvas Genitsaris, Ellen Helsper, Scott Kofmehl, Ryan McKenna, Kevin Spellman, Marietta Vafea and Valerie (Yee Fai) Wong. Congratulations!

ULU Men win the Student Cup, Albrecht Glitz the MVP (February 2006)

On the weekend of 11th-12th February, the ULU men stormed to victory at the Student Cup in Leeds and, for the third time in four Student Cups, ULU's Albrecht Glitz was awarded MVP! The men did not drop a set all weekend, beating Cambridge, York and Nottingham easily in the first round on Saturday; ti-ni-ni-ni's smell was even more intense in Saturday night's air. The quarter-final match on Sunday morning was against Reading, who had high hopes of getting revenge for their two losses against ULU in BUSA. But the ULU men continued to play at a high standard, winning the match 2-0. The semi-finals were against Oxford; the opposition came into the game strong, taking a 10-5 lead (the only team which managed to gain a 5-point advantage against ULU during the weekend), but that was basically it; ULU men raised their performance and won the set and eventually the match quite comfortably 2-0. As so many times before, Sheffield Hallam was meant to be the opposition for the trophy. The men's final was unfortunately scheduled to take place parallel to the women's final and to the men's and women's 5th-6th place matches. With hardly any of the teams, who had spent the day playing for places 8-16 at Leeds Metropolitan Uni. showing up to watch the finals and other teams busy with their own matches, the finals were left to be played in relative isolation. Despite the lack of excitement and noise that usually surround the climax of the Student Cup, ULU men got into the game determined to show their winning intentions and dominated the first set, beating Hallam quite easily. Hallam's opposition in the second set increased, resulting in a high-quality side-out set with none of the teams managing to gain more than a 2-point lead. The score had reached 20-20 when ULU's Savvas Genitsaris decided to put a spark into the game; two consecutive sloppy errors of his gave Hallam a 20-22 lead, which forced ULU coach Christos Vasilakis to call a time out. That was it; ULU sides out, Savvas goes to serve on 21-22;and the trophy goes to ULU! No Hallam's reception or time out managed to stop Savvas; last four serves and ULU's block-defence; 25-22 for ULU. Ti-ni-ni-ni!!!!

ULU Men (Christos Vasilakis): Nicolas Ruh, Albrecht Glitz, Savvas Genitsaris, Kevin Spellman, Scott Komfehl, Spyros Masouros, Tang Tang (libero), Nikos Kontos, Ian Bradley, Matt Smart.

Meanwhile the women were playing in the 5th and 6th place playoff against Cambridge, who they had easily beaten the day before in the first round. The tournament started well for the women with 2-0 wins against Cambridge, Leeds, and Sheffield 2. Unfortunately, the quarter finals turned out to be a more difficult task, with a strong Sheffield side putting ULU under pressure from the beginning. ULU managed to come from behind and win the first set, but then struggled to close the second after being in the lead. Hitting and serving mistakes at crucial moments did not help and the second set went to Sheffield. The third set was a struggle from the very beginning, with ULU women unable to find their rhythm. Although they fought back at the end, it was not enough and Sheffield took the tie-break 15-12. Their next match was against Newcastle, who had won their group on Saturday. After winning the first set easily, ULU had a brief spell of making points not only for themselves, but also for their opponents. But it all came together at the end and ULU were in the playoffs for 5th against Cambridge. Bad timing meant that a quick win was necessary in order to be able to go and watch the men in the finals, but playing under time pressure stressed out the ULU girls and the first set went to Cambridge. Knowing there was no hope of seeing any of the men’s match anymore, ULU pulled together and actually played convincing, clinical, non-complacent volleyball for the next two sets, finishing the third just as the men came trickling in to the sports hall with huge smiles on their faces.

ULU Women (Mark Kontopoulos): Kathleen Noreisch, Valerie Wong, Marietta Vafea, Ellen Helsper, Athina Vlachantoni, Erika Woods, Kelsey Case, Ioanna Karelia.

ULU men top of their group in the London Challenge Trophy (January 2006)

ULU men beat National League side Aquila Lynx 2-1 at their home match on 3rd February 2006. Was it because of the support from the ladies???? (right) After winning the first set easily to 15, ULU conceded a very tight second set to Aquila 31-29. The ULU men nonetheless closed the third set convincingly 25-19. ULU men are now assured the top spot in their pool regardless of how Malory plays against Aquila in their two remaining fixtures.

ULU men make English Volleyball history (January 2006)

Bacon’s College Sports Centre, 27th January 2006, 9:30pm – ULU men have just beaten reigning National League champions Malory 3-0. On the Malory players’ faces, there are looks of disbelief and shock. Despite having just caused one of the greatest upsets in English Volleyball history, the ULU men remain calm; it was a great match and yet no individual played better than everyone knew he could. It just all came together at the right time.

The saga began a week earlier on 20th January, when ULU men travelled to Malory’s home venue. ULU took a set of Malory but lost 2-1. To come top of their group in the London Challenge Trophy, ULU had to win this second match 3-0. ULU were supported by faithful fans Valerie, Ioanna and Erika from the women’s team, Sebastian and Ian from the men’s and a mysterious friend of Kevin’s. Nonetheless, more noise was forthcoming from the neutral parties reffing and scoring the match (Marietta, Kathleen and Anna)!

Although there were times during the match, where it looked a bit tight, such as when ULU was behind at the end of the first set, but was saved by a series of tricky, tactical serves by Nik, or when Malory took off to a flying start at the beginning of the second and was leading 8-4 and Savvas produced a number of high-powered, high-risk serves to bring the score back to 11-8 for ULU, or when ULU was leading 24-19 in the second and only managed to close the set 25-23 after a number of bad receptions, all in all, the level of play on ULUs part was excellent - especially Scott blocking Steve Fee, Savvas consistently hitting the 3m line, Nik’s defense, Boris’ hitting and blocking, Spyros reception, Andrew’s solid hitting, good reception and defense from substitutes Argyris and Kostas, supportive coaching by Christos and a great attitude on the bench from Mark and Kevin.

ULU women defeat London Polonia in the London Challenge Trophy

In a much-anticipated match (possibly not so much by Polonia as by ULU), ULU women took on National League side Polonia, who resorted to an unusual line-up with the loss of Kathleen and Marietta to the opposition. Supported and cheered on by LVA Chairman Charlie Orton, Ioanna’s latest suitors, Valerie and ever-faithful fan Andrew (now also known as Team Statistician), ULU ladies fought point after point to win their most exciting match of the season 2-1.

Sporting their new uniforms, the ULU girls were in high spirits before the match had even started. The beginning was a close fight between the two teams, with strong hitting by ULUs Gabi and Dasha and Polonia’s Barbora, who had switched to the outside from her usual position as setter. ULU narrowly clinched the set 25-23 amidst shouts of joy. ULU unfortunately relaxed a bit in the second set, serving numerous balls out and committing many unforced errors. The set went to Polonia 25-16. But setter Athina set the tone by remaining optimistic even after the lost set, saying “I’m happy, we’re good”, which was followed by “but we can be better” from Kathleen. Marietta was substituted in for Dasha in the third set and used her tactical shots to upset the Polonia defense. Knowing that it was now or never, especially after Athina twisted her ankle towards the end of the set, the girls fought side out after side out. Excellent passing by libero Ellen and blocking and hitting by middles Ioanna and Kelsey helped maintain the momentum. ULU were leading at 20-17, when Barbora came in to serve and brought the score back to 20-20. A few points later, the score continued to be tied at 22-22. Mark was screaming “tesera, tesera” (for the non-Greeks out there, “four, four”) and Athina set to Ioanna in the middle, whose hit was awaited eagerly by a Polonia triple block. Mark then proceded to scream something along the lines of “I thought I said four!” and called a time out. Angie was substituted in to pass and executed the most perfect pass of the match (I guess the new contact lenses helped!), which Athina accurately set to Gabi, who killed the ball. The score was now 23-23. Athina serves (thinking: "no pressure, no pressure"), and Polonia touches the net on a ULU attack. Match point at 24-23. Athina serves again, the ball is set out to Liz, Kathleen and Ioanna go up to block and the ball goes crashing off of Ioanna’s block straight down into Polonia’s side of the court. The ULU girls go wild, screaming and jumping and hugging each other – all except for Ioanna of course, who remains calm and composed as always.

The London Challenge Trophy begins – ULU men defeat Aquila (January 2006)

The LVA site currently reports, “The London Challenge started on Thursday evening [12th January 2006], with the ULU Men of the London League defeating Aquila from the National League 3-0. Will this send the National League Coaches to study London League matches to avoid embarrassment? The Challenge has certainly been offered, and is being taken up.”

Despite not being in top form after the Christmas break, the ULU Men slaughtered the Aquila opposition 3-0 in the first London Challenge Trophy match ever to take place. The men were fired on by the support of the ULU women, who had come to watch the men show the national league side that should ULU want to and have the money to do so, we would be a force to be reckoned with in the National League. The ULU men struggled briefly at the end of the first set, where despite leading 24-20, they did not manage to close the set until 26-24. The next two sets ran smoother, although better volleyball could have been played on both sides.

The ULU men donned their brand new Bulgarian uniforms and yet Aquila were still complaining that they were not wearing matching shorts. Were they afraid, even before the match had started? Aquila on the other hand had not brought along their registration cards, seeing as these were “important documents.” As the LVA site says, hopefully this surprise victory will persuade National League teams to take their London League opposition seriously in a competition that looks to become a highlight of the season!

Where we stand at the beginning of 2006 (January 2006)

Both the ULU men’s and women’s teams had a very successful first half of the season. The men won all their matches, conceding only 3 sets. This excellent record was beaten by the women, who also won all their matches and have only lost 2 sets to date.

Both men and women lead the BUSA tables having easily won all their matches at the first two BUSA tournaments in Reading and Essex. The final tournament takes place in London on February 6th. ULU are looking to enter the knock-out stages of the competition leading the South East league tables.

Both teams also qualified top of their groups at the Student Cup qualifiers in Ashcombe. The men put on a brilliant team effort with excellent setting and strong hitting through every position to win all their matches easily. The women were hampered by the absence of their setter, but nonetheless managed to maintain a high level of play. Only the strong hitting of Lucy Boulton and the superb defense of her Exeter team mates in the second set of the last match of the day threw ULU slightly off balance. They nonetheless won the match on points, winning the group.

The men have played four London League matches to date, winning all and dropping only 3 sets along the way. The expected strong opposition from traditional rivals Swiss Cottage failed to materialise, which means the fight for the title will probably be left to White Eagles and ULU. The women too were surprised in their match against Swiss Cottage, where they stormed to victory, winning the third set 25-7. Swiss Cottage left Bacon’s College, wondering what had hit them. QKX, a strong contender for the title in the past also proved to be an easier match than expected. ULU women meet the West London based team 3 more times this season (in the League and in the new London Challenge Trophy) and hope to repeat the 3-0 victory of the first clash. White Eagles, currently at the bottom of the league provided a surprisingly strong fight, coming close to winning each set, all of which went ULU’s way in the end. ULU Ladies, having played 5 London League matches to date remain league leaders.

ULU presence felt in the Beach Slam (September 2005)

Gabi Medricka and Kathleen Noreisch finished 3rd in the British Grand Slam beach volleyball tournament held on Sandbanks Beach in Poole on 17 and 18 September 2005. Seeded first in the tournament, they reached the semi-finals where they were defeated by the eventual winners, Mel Coutts and Shauna Mullin, in a close and tense 3rd set tie-breaker. Although very disappointed, the team recouped immediately to score an impressive victory over Jackie Manning and her Australian partner Angela Clarke - who is currently ranked #24 in the world - and take home 3rd place in what was quite possibly the most competitive and closely fought women's beach volleyball tournament of recent years in Britain.

In the men's action, Hendrik Neubert, who teamed up with Chris White for the first time and was also seeded first, performed very well and fought his way through several elimination matches to eventually finish 5th in a very tough tournament, just missing out on a semi-final spot. The men's winners were Jody Gooding and Gregg Weaver.

Marietta Vafea awarded Volunteer Award by the EVA

Marietta Vafea, the Chairperson of the ULU Volleyball Club has been awarded the 'Young Official of the Year' award by the EVA for her services to volleyball. For more information and a full list of this year's EVA Volunteer Awards please check out the LVA website. **Go Marietta Go**

13th August, Twickenham Middlesex 7s Beach Volleyball Exhibition Matches

Mark Kontopoulos (ULU Women's coach and EVA Beach Commissioner) and Greg Brown (UCL Alumni and EVA Marketing Director) organise exhibtion matches and Have-a-Go sessions at Twickenham Rugby Stadium. Kathleen Noreisch (KCL) and Nicolas Ruh (Birkbeck) participate in the demonstrations. Nik and his partner Richard Payne beat England favourite Jody Gooding and partner England Senior Yassir Sliti twice. Interest was huge and large numbers of enthusiastic members of the public put down their beers and took off their shoes to try to beat Olympians Audrey Cooper and Mo Glover and discover the joys of the sport!

6th & 7th August, Barry Island Beach Volleyball Championships

Albrecht Glitz (UCL) wins the Barry Island Volleyball Championships after pairing up with Brad Rudduck, beating his long-term partner Hendrik Neubert (KCL Alumni) in an exciting final match on Sunday afternoon.

Kathleen Noreisch comes second with her partner Gabriela Medricka. Kathleen and Gabi are unable to overcome the strong hitting and excellent defence played by Lucy Boulton and Kerri Olding in the finals.

Athina Vlachantoni (LSE) and Emily Kemp (IOE Alumni), as well as Nicolas Ruh and Mark Kontopoulos also participate in the competition.

30th & 31st July, Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic

Albrecht Glitz and Hendrik Neubert win the Weymouth Beach Classic in a nail-biting final against the Hawaiian pairing of John Hedlund and Alika Williams. Competing against national and international stars, the German pair survives the weekend undefeated and brings home gold. Albrecht is awarded MVP.

Kathleen Noreisch places 7th with partner Julia Werdich.

23rd & 24th July, Whitefield Tournament

For the second year running, ULU men participate at the highly regarded Whitefield tournament and prove they are capable of competing with the best teams in the UK, by taking sets of National League teams Malory, Warwick Riga and Aquila and beating the England Juniors. They are unfortunately denied entry into the semi-finals, but go on to win the Shield Competion against National League teams Warwick Riga and Aquila.

Albrecht Glitz, playing for Docklands, wins the tournament with his National League Division 1 side and is awarded MVP.

The ULU women participate in the Whitefield Tournament for the first time and win all but one of their matches on Saturday to place 2nd in their pool. Although they put up a fight against Team DR, an all-star selection of England and foreign players in the semi-finals, as well as against National League team Polonia, it is not quite enough to get a podium position. ULU women place 4th.

16th & 17th July, Brighton Ambre Solaire Beach Volleyball Championships

After three weekends of beautiful weather and excellent beach volleyball, Kathleen Noreisch and her partner Gabriela Medricka win the Ambre Solaire Beach Volleyball Championships in Brighton in front of large crowds, beating experienced players Julia Stevens and Ulrike Gaertner in the finals.

9th & 10th July, Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Classic

Albrecht Glitz, Nicolas Ruh and Kathleen Noreisch participate in the beach volleyball competition at Sandbanks.

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