With the end of three incredible days of volleyball, the CEV SCA Senior Men’s Finals 2023 have come to an end!
The first of our matches for the day saw a battle between Northern Ireland and Ireland for the 5th Place playoff. Northern Ireland started the match strongly, quickly taking control and winning the first set with a comfortable margin against Ireland.
The Irish team demonstrated a stronger fight in the next two sets but were unable to shake the consistent rhythm of the Northern Irish who, ultimately, won the battle for Fifth Place with a 3-0 victory.
Oriam Scotland’s National Performance Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland – 17 June 2023. Northern Ireland v Ireland in action in the 5th/6th playoff of the CEV SCA senior menÕs indoor finals. Northern Ireland won the match 3-0 (10, 16, 14). (Photo by Lynne Marshall | www.volleyballphotos.co.uk)
San Marino and Iceland faced each for the second time this tournament in the battle for Bronze. After a 25-20 win in the first set, San Marino looked like they were ready to repeat their previous victory against Iceland. However, the Icelandic team persisted and won a tough second set 25-23. Iceland built on their momentum from the second set into the third and fourth sets to hold off a strong San Marino team, coming out victorious with a 3-1 win in the hard-fought Bronze Medal match.
With the home team making it to the finals, a much anticipated Gold Medal Match saw a full hall at Oriam to watch Scotland go up against Luxembourg for the Championship. After going through the tournament undefeated, Luxembourg presented themselves as a strong opponent for the Scots.
However, Team Scotland came prepared with one of their best lineups in years and were ready for a fight. Despite some strong and creative plays from the team, they were unable to beat a relentless Luxembourg team who won the Gold Medal.
Awards were also presented for the tournament’s Super Seven by former members of the Scottish Men’s National Team. Your winning Super Seven team is Marc McLaughlin (SCO) who was nominated as Super Seven Setter, Lorenzo Benvenuti (SMR) and Chris Zuidberg (LUX) as Outside Hitters, Mathis Esselin (LUX) as Opposite, David Mexson (SCO) and Hafsteinn Valdimarsson (ISL) as Middle Blockers, and Liam Darling (SCO) as Libero.
Libero: Liam DARLING (SCO)
Opposite: Mathis Esselin (LUX)
Outside: Chris Zuidberg (LUX)
Middles: Hafsteinn Valdimarsson (ISL)
Middle: David Mexson (SCO)
Setter: Marc McLaughlin (SCO)
Outside: Lorenzo Benvenuti (SMR)
Congratulations to all the teams and thank you to those who joined us at Oriam for our final day of competition!
Most of all, a massive thank you goes out to our staff, officials and volunteers who helped over the past few days and made the event as successful as possible! In addition, we’d like to thank our partners, Volleyball Photos, Edinburgh Trams, the Oriam and sportscotland for their help throughout the competition.
Libero: Liam DARLING (SCO)
Opposite: Mathis Esselin (LUX)
Outside: Chris Zuidberg (LUX)
Middles: Hafsteinn Valdimarsson (ISL)
Middle: David Mexson (SCO)
Setter: Marc McLaughlin (SCO)
Outside: Lorenzo Benvenuti (SMR)
All photos used in this article were taken by Lynne Marshall and Michael McConville at volleyballphotos.co.uk. Check out their website for more photos from the tournament!