England Men’s Volleyball Tour of South Korea

England's men jetted off to the other side of the globe to South Korea to take part in Mungyeong Bunpattybun International University Tournament where they were drawn against the United States, Australia and Vietnam in their pool matches. 

Their first game, against the United States, was a thriller! Missing out on the first set 20-25 the men came out in the second set focused and united with one objective - win.

The boys took the second set with a close fought set with the English squad winning 25-23. The third and fourth set is where the boys really showed their training paying off with a dominant display winning the third set 25-21 and the fourth 25-20. The MVP of the match was Nathan Fullerton. 

After a great win against the States, the team wanted to take the momentum of the match into the next one against Australia. The game started quickly and the English team carried the momentum from their game against the USA winning the first set 25-21. However, the Australians fought back and took the second and third set 20-25, 17-25. The MVP for the match was Noah Sykes. 

But the boys wouldn’t quit and won the fourth set 25-22. This took the game to a deciding set which again England showed great resilience and came out victorious over the Australians in i the final set  15-10 and winning the match 3-2.

With their final pool game against unbeaten Vietnam could the squad get into the semi-finals unbeaten? Hot out the gates the English side could see why Vietnam were unbeaten. The first game was over in a flash, with Vietnam winning 25-12. However, the second set was a marathon! The boys fought back from the first set loss but took the second set to a tie breaking point which resulted in the English team winning 32-30!

However, the Vietmanese were too strong for the squad and the squad sadly missed out on going unbeaten in the pool matches with the third and fourth sets going the way of the Vietmanese 11-25, 22-25. 

Despite the loss, the men got through to the semi-final against hosts South Korea. They had done themselves proud getting to this stage of the tournament, especially after winning against strong competition. The South Korean's fast style of play was a step up from anything else they had seen in the tournament. Sadly losing out in straight sets 19-25, 16-25,18-25.

Having just missed out on a place in the final the men had a bronze medal match against Japan still to play. The Japanese had lost their semi-final so were wanting to come back strong and snatch the bronze away from the England squad. The team showed the experience they had gained from the tournament winning the first two sets 25-21, 25-23. However, the Japanese fought back and grabbed the third set 11-25. But, the men hadn't come this far and learnt this much to miss out on a medal. They took the fourth set 25-18 giving them the bronze medal in Mungyeong. 

The squad had really shown their strength across the week of play and gained lots of experience to take into their next competition. 

Volleyball England wants to congratulate the team and bench staff on their bronze medal and success at the tournament.