Student Cup 2025 Review – UCL and Brunel come up trumps for London unis

Meeting Imperial College London in the final, UCL were going all out for a three-peat, having swept to victory in both 2023 and 2024. 

And a talent squad were able to do just by delivering a commanding 2-0 victory (25-15, 25-18) to reaffirm their dominance in this particular competition. 

Yet their overall path to glory had been far from straightforward after they facing an early setback in the pool stages. 

Eventual final opponents Imperial had topped Pool A with a flawless record of three wins from three, including a narrow 2-0 victory over the reigning champions (26-24, 26-24).  

But after having to settle for second in the group, UCL did not pit a foot wrong from that moment on, bouncing back by not dropping a single set in the crucial knockout rounds. 

At the conclusion of the tournament’s first day on Saturday, Durham University, Cambridge University and Loughborough Students emerged as winners of their respective pools, while LSESU Volleyball, the University of East Anglia, and Dublin City University secured second-place finishes to advance to Sunday’s knockout stages. 

ICL quarter-final match got off to a shaky start, as they dropped the first set to tournament hosts, the University of East Anglia, but they quickly regained their composure, taking the next two sets to win 2-1 and reach the last four. 

UCL, meanwhile, made a statement of intent, hitting back from their pool stage defeat with a clinical 2-0 victory over Pool C winners, Cambridge University.  

Loughborough Students continued their excellent first-day form in clinching a straight sets victory (25-8, 25-18) over LSESU. 

The final quarter-final was a fiercely contested battle between Pool B winners, Durham University, and Pool D runners-up, Dublin City University, which the former won 2-1 to take a semi-final place. 

Dublin could be proud of the way they showed significant resilience after a long trip, eventually finishing eighth overall after a competitive match against the London School of Economics. 

Moving into the semi-finals anticipation was high, but it was the capital unis who held the upper hand over their North East and Midlands rivals. 

ICL took their match against Durham University in straight sets and UCL did likewise when they came up against Loughborough, underlining they were running into their best form at just the right time. 

In the bronze medal match, Loughborough Students edged out Durham in a tightly contested battle, winning 2-0 (25-23, 29-27) to claim third place while UCL were left to celebrate final success. 

Similar to their female counterparts, Imperial dominated their pool in the men's competition and beat eventual champions Brunel, but were unable to reproduce that form when it really counted. 

Imperial won the first set 25-15 when the sides met in pool play but Brunel fought back in the second to take it 25-19 and force a decider, which the former claimed 15-13. 

Nevertheless, Brunel went through in second and were joined on Saturday evening at the conclusion of the pool stages by University College London (UCL), Urmston Grammar and Loughborough, who emerged as pool winners, as well as pool runners-up Cambridge University, Imperial 2, and the University of Southampton. 

Brunel faced a challenging quarter-final against Loughborough, who had cruised through Pool D without dropping a single set. 

The two sides exchanged the first two sets and, as the only quarter-final to go the distance, it turned out be Brunel who held their nerve to book a semis spot. 

UCL were aiming to complete the women’s and men’s double after narrowly missed out on that particular title last year, and they kept that dream alive by sealing a 25-20, 25-22 success over Imperial 2. 

Imperial 1 fared better, however, as thewy defeated Pool D runners-up University of Southampton in straight sets (25-17, 26-24). 

The youngest team in the competition - and the only non-university squad to make it to the finals – Urmston Grammar bowed out at the last eight stage but they could be proud of their efforts and eventually ended an excellent campaign in seventh. 

The semis produced contrasting matches in terms of length and difficulty for the winners, as UCL were impressive victors against ICL in straight sets (25-22, 25-16). 

For Brunel, it proved much trickier as they were pushed all the way before claiming a final berth by a 29-27, 22-25, 15-8 margin against Cambridge University. 

This, undoubtedly stood them in good stead final where they dropped the first set 25-20 but came storming back to take the next two 25-20, 15-12 and spark the celebrations. 

In the match for third and fourth place Imperial ran out 15-25, 25-17, 25-8 winners over Cambridge, finishing strongly after a slow start. 

Images by Jon Cornish

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View the full Student Cup Finals results by clicking here.