The Women’s Cup final Aer Lingus were going for their third league and Cup double in a row, with UCD standing between them and that remarkable achievement. UCD have a strong history in the competition, however 2007 was their last Cup success. Aer Lingus stomped to an early lead and went into the first technical time out 8- 0 ahead. UCD were slow to start and conceded many points with unforced errors which saw Aer Lingus comfortably taking the 1st set 25 -10.
The second set was a much tighter affair with UCD beginning to find their form in the match. Both teams were level at 15 – 15 before Aer Lingus clocked up a number of kills in succession to take the 2nd set 25 – 19. In the 3rd set it was UCD who started brighter. They began blocking well taking the sting out of the Aer Lingus attack. Some strong wing hitting of their own brought them back into the game securing the 3rd set 25 – 15.
Aer Lingus were undeterred however and upped their game in the 4th. Some strong serving and attacking began to force the errors on the UCD side and try as they might UCD were unable to bring the game to a tie breaker set. Aer Lingus won the 4th set 25 – 18 and won their 3rd Association Cup Final and league double in a row. UCD didn’t go home disappointed as Lyndsey Condell was awarded MVP of the match.
MVP: Lyndsey Condell - UCD
Men
Ballymun Patriots
3
-
1
UCD
25-23, 25-18, 27-29, 25-20
The Men’s final runners up in the Premier League, Ballymun Patriots, played a strong UCD side hungry for the Cup Title. This was UCD’s third year in a row in the Cup Final and they were keen to finish this years season with gold in this competition. From the first play of the game the tempo and standard was set for the match, it was going to be a fast, very closely contested exciting game. Some excellent attacking Volleyball was played right from the start surpassed only by some incredible defensive plays. Teams matched each other point for point all the way through the 1st set right up to the later stages. At 23 – 22 it was still anybodies set, Ballymun scored an ace serve to bring up set point at 24 – 22. A service error then followed to keep UCD in the set. Ballymun held their nerve in the receive and first attack and it was a hitting error from UCD that brought up the 1st set to Ballymun 25 – 23.
In the second set Ballymun raced to 5 point early lead with no reply from UCD. UCD got themselves back in the game and began to find some holes behind the Ballymun block. Ballymun raised their game up a gear and caused trouble for the UCD serve receive with some big serving. Try as they might UCD were unable to bridge the gap and Ballymun won the 2nd set on a more comfortable score line of 25 18.
In the 3rd set the tables turned in UCD’s favour. UCD started stronger and took an early lead which they maintained going into each of the technical time outs. Some excellent blocking at the net by UCD denied Ballymun any opportunity to ground the ball on their court. As the set progressed Ballymun fought their way back on the scoreboard to bring about a thrilling end to the set. Ballymun had match point at 27 -26 but a great block by UCD levelled the score once again. UCD had two kills in a row to win the set and keep themselves in the game. In the 4th set the pendulum swung back in Ballymena’s favour, they built up a strong lead and by the mid way stage of the set it looked all over for UCD trailing by 7 points at 5 - 12. UCD showed great resilience to battle back and by the later stages of the set were right back in it trailing by just 3 points at 16 – 19. Ballymun were beginning to show signs of strain with 3 serving errors in a row but they managed to hold on and won the set 25 – 20 and the match 3 – 1. Ballymun were crowned the 2010/11 National Cup winners and Marcin Stube from Ballymun received the Most Valuable Player Award for the match.
