The arrival of the Cardiff Open only means on thing. The indoor season is back! We take the opportunity to use the two day tournament, hosted by Cardiff VC, as a preseason warm up for our NVL and SW teams. For ESVC Thunder and our SW players, it was a mixed bag of results. The first three games were ultra-tight against some very experienced sides. Wiltshire Mavericks beat Thunder 21:20, followed by two 22:20 losses to Cardiff Panthers and Isle of Man. Maybe in a set game they’d have won but in the 17 minutes on offer, they just missed out. We followed up with four wins on the bounce against Yeovil VC. Aber Redux and Bemi Falcon, then Aber again on Day 2. The eight match was aginst fellow Devon team, UTV Dragons, again it was agonisingly close game with Dragons come out victorous by 1 point! Unfortuntely another rematch against Wiltshire led to another lose, before taking the double over Bemi Falcons. Thunder finished 6th overall, with all loses being withing 4 points! It could have been very different!
For ESVC Lightning, who took last years title, were back with a few new faces! With NVL Division 1 on the agenda for 2024/25 it was an opportunity to dust of the summer sand and get the indoor shoes squeeking! It was straight back to business as our reigning champions went unbeaten on Day 1 seeing off Polish Eagles, Cardiff Cheetahs, UTV Dragons, City of Bristol, Aber Uni, Lydney Lynx. The day went from strength to strength with each game the team improving and learning. The evening brought a well earned rest before the next challengers came forth. Cardiff Panthers, Yeovil, Aber Uni, Isle of Man, City of Bristol and Lydney Lynx all tried but we’re able to stop us reaching the semi-final. It was tricky UTV Dragons, in their debut appearance in Cardiff, who were stood in our way and even though Lightning progressed to the final, it wasn’t easier, proving to be a great spectecal of volleyball for those looking on. The final, a familar match up Exeter Storm vs Wiltshire Mavericks. A single set shoot out saw both teams go point for point before Exeter pulled clear at 22 all and secure back to back Cardiff Open titles!
Thanks to Steve Marshall and Cardiff VC for organising!
