Student Cup review (15th and 16th November) - Derby, Brunel, Oxford and Warwick among unis to advance

Following on from Leeds, which hosted matches for teams from the northern part of the country on 8th and 9th November, this time it was the turn of the teams from the middle and south to do battle. 

Men’s five-strong Pool D was held at Ashcombe on Saturday and played as the first to 21 points over two sets, the winners of each match was decided on who won the highest number of points.

University of Westminster finished as top dogs with a perfect record to go straight through to Finals Weekend at Norwich in February.  

Runners-up the London School of Economics (LSE) will have to see if their record is good enough to join them, having lost out to their fellow capital side, but getting the better of third-placed University of Portsmouth, University of Southampton in fourth and Solent University in fifth. 

Men’s Pool E, played, on the Sunday on the same basis, saw three teams out of the five win three and lose one match, meaning set difference and then points difference was used to separate them after they all finished on six points. 

University of Sussex, with a +4 set difference, were ahead of University of Southampton 2 and Team Surrey, who both finished on +2, but there was no separating the latter two teams on points difference either (+28). 

As a result, it went down to their head-to-head record, where the South Coast team had recorded a 2-0 victory. 

Behind the top three, Queen Mary University beat Exeter University to decide fourth and fifth. 

London School of Economics (LSE) were winners of Women’s Pool D after victories in all four matches to edge out University of Southampton, who could still progress courtesy of a strong points difference (+62). 

University of Portsmouth (third), University of Westminster (fourth) and Solent University (fifth) all had the satisfaction of claiming victory in one match, but were placed as such thanks to better set difference or points difference than their opposing teams. 

Women’s Pool E produced a strong showing from Brunel University, who finished four points clear at the summit thanks to a 100% record. 

Behind them it was much tighter with Queen Mary University and University of Sussex both winning and losing two of their matches, with the former having a better points difference. 

Exeter University and Team Surrey each triumphed once, with the Devon institution finishing higher courtesy of their far superior set difference.  

Over at Loughborough, the four-team Men’s Pool F (best of three sets, first to 21 points) was emphatically won by Imperial College London, who won all three games without dropping a set and racking up a +56 points difference. 

Oxford University 2 were second with two wins from three, with Aston University edging out University of Worcester for the minor group placings.  

Oxford University’s first team had more success in Men’s Pool G, where they were victors in their opening match against the side who were to finish second, Imperial College London 2, and went on to prevail in all their matches. 

Oxford Brookes ended with a 2-2 record for third, while De Monfort University’s solitary success against Five Ways enabled them to finish above them. 

Four teams went head to head in Men’s Pool H, with University of Warwick proving to be the dominant force, advancing with three 2-0 victories. 

University of Sheffield were comfortable in second, with City of St George and United Cambridge Colleges completing the pool rankings. 

Men’s Pool I saw University of Derby enjoy an excellent day of volleyball as they dropped just one set in defeating all four of their opponents... but they only just made it through. 

It all came down to their last match against Cambridge University, where each team took one of the set, but the East Midlands side took just one more point (42 compared to 41) during the course of the match. 

Both had already beaten third-placed Reading University, as well as Loughborough Students 2 and University of Warwick 2. 

King's College London were in cruise control in Women’s Pool F as they notched a +64 points difference in remaining unbeaten throughout their four matches. 

Loughborough Students won all their other matches and have a chance of making it through with a +38 points difference, but it was the end of the line for the remaining contenders, University of Leicester (third), Aston University (fourth) and Oxford University 2 (fifth). 

The four-team Women’s Pool G saw Oxford University lead the way with maximum points and just one set dropped to book their passage through to the next stage. 

Varsity rivals Cambridge were runners-up – Oxford beating them first up in what proved to be the key clash – while Sheffield University and United Cambridge Colleges came third and fourth. 

There is one more weekend of qualifiers to come this coming weekend, with six more pools being contested in Loughborough.

Find out more about the Student Cup by clicking here.