It’s been an exciting start to the 2024-2025 season, made even more exciting by the launch of Balltime AI as our official statistics supplier. We kicked off the Premier Leagues last weekend at Edinburgh College Granton, where all 16 teams were in action for the first match of the season.
We started off with the men’s competition on the 28th of September. NUVOC and EUVC got us off to a dramatic start, with NUVOC eventually taking the win in true NUVOC form with a 5 set thriller, winning 3-2. Regan Kidd had an excellent match, bringing home 12 kills throughout the match. Following on was City of Glasgow Ragazzi against Volleyball Aberdeen Vortex, where Jordan Smith helped his team win 3-0 with some stunning sets. Glasgow Mets were up against the newly promoted South Ayrshire, but 16 kills from George Maxime helped his team take the win 3-1. Finishing off the day was a classic Edinburgh derby, with City of Edinburgh taking on Edinburgh Jets Bears. It was a close match, but City took it eventually with a 3-2 win, helped along the way by Matthew Allan and his blocking skills.
The women’s league started the day after, with NUVOC and EUVC again getting the day off to a flying start. EUVC this time took the win 3-0, Sofia Benvenuto helping her team with a 0.43% attacking efficiency score. Su Ragazzi were up next, with new addition Alice Zeimann taking the court by storm with 15 kills. They beat Volleyball Aberdeen 3-0. Newly promoted Glasgow Mets were up against Caledonia West Ayrshire Aces, and showed they deserved to be in the Premier division with a 3-0, helped by Tya Keys and her 3.3 kills per set average. The last match of the day was City of Edinburgh against Edinburgh Jets. Rachel Morrison was killing it, 19 times to be exact, bringing home to win for City with a score of 3-1.
Week 2 provided the same levels of excitement yet again. Back to the normal home and away format, our men’s teams were back travelling around the country. South Ayrshire were back in Edinburgh to play Edinburgh Jets Bears. Eddie Gorecki helped Bears take the 3-0 win, with 15 kills throughout the course of the match. NUVOC were through in Glasgow playing City of Glasgow Ragazzi. Last year’s league winners took the match comfortably, with Andrii Turyk and his 0.69% attacking efficiency sealing the win 3-0. City of Edinburgh hosted Glasgow Mets, with Jonny Black helping his team win 3-0 with 13 kills throughout the match. Our last match up saw EUVC travel up to play Volleyball Aberdeen Vortex. The travel was worth it though, as 11 perfect passes from libero Freddie Sharp helped the team take the win 3-0.
Similarly on the women’s side, Caledonia West Ayrshire Aces were up against Edinburgh Jets in Edinburgh. A 3-2 win for the Edinburgh side this time around, helped along the way with 7 perfect passes from libero Sara Canduzzi. NUVOC were taking on Su Ragazzi, but an attacking efficiency of 0.47% from Maddy Weber meant that the win went the way of Su, finishing the match 3-0. Glasgow Mets were also in Edinburgh, upsetting last year’s Scottish Cup winner’s City of Edinburgh with a dominant 3-0 win. 6 aces from Anastassiya Barakhoyeva certainly helped! Volleyball Aberdeen were hosting EUVC, but couldn’t quite take the win as the visitors sealed the deal with a 3-1 win. 36 assists from setter Julia Steen helped her team triumph on their away day.
