UCD Volleyball
A long since well-established club in UCD Sporting Circles, UCD Volleyball Club has kept a typically busy schedule thus far, as they look to build on the success of the last academic year.
The men’s student team have played one round thus far in the SSI league, beating Griffith College 3:0 and losing to DCU 2:1. With two titles to defend, they will be much fancied for silverware again in the coming year. The women’s SSI are currently preparing for their first competitive game of the campaign, and have done so with a comprehensive victory in a friendly game against DCU.
In the Premier ranks, the men had their first loss to last year’s champions Ballymun, going down to a 3-1 score line, but have recorded two comfortable victories at the hands of Limerick and Aerlingus. The Women’s Premier side won their first match of the season with relative ease, defeating DVC and Naas 3-0, before narrowly losing to last year’s champions Galway 3-2.
The main focus of the club’s attention at present is on the upcoming All-Ireland Varsities competition. UCD has a proud history of dominance in the competition, having been crowned champions 13 of the last 14 years before going on to compete in the English varsities. They will be looking to continue that streak this year, with the event taking place November 16th-18th. The College Tribune will be on hand to report on how the UCD representative sides fared in our next issue.
For more information on UCD Volleyball, visit the Facebook page @UcdVolleyballClub.
UCD Polar Bears Archery Club
A well-established club in the UCD Sports scene, the Polar Bears have had a busy semester thus far, and at the time of writing are preparing for their first intervarsity competition of the year at Dundalk IT. Boasting former Irish Olympian Keith Hanlon on the coaching staff, the club runs two beginners training sessions per week along with one team session, catering for players of all levels. With a long history of success in the Irish Indoor Universities leagues, the club will be expecting a strong showing this year, with star shooters such as Victoria Irvine, winner of last year’s student nationals in Cork, and the in-form Conor Power, likely to be in the running for any silverware.
Like any club, The Polar Bears rely on the production of new talent to achieve sustained success, and this year’s Novice Cup gave the club an insight into the talented new archers they have in their ranks. In the men’s competition, the top three competitors were Linges Chandran (118 points), Giaocchino Castorio (107) and Kenneth (101) respectively, three very impressive tallies considering the level of experience of the archers in question. While in the women’s competition, Jillian Holden led the way with 97 points, followed by Neasa McCaffrey and Aisha Hendy Larmour who were level on 91. Overall, the competition was an overwhelming success, with many of the participants completing the beginner’s course that day allowing them to now shoot independently. The future certainly looks bright for UCD Archery club, and we here at The College Tribune will be sure to closely follow their progress over the coming year.
Fancy yourself as a Bowman in the making? Call down to Hall A on Tuesday’s at 5pm, or Friday’s at 4pm and pit yourself against one of the best Archery clubs Ireland has to offer. For information, contact the club via Facebook @UCDArchery.
UCD Swimming
Under the guidance of Olympian Earl McCarthy, UCD Swimming Club has a proud history of success, and one which they have already started to build on this academic year. The club competed at the 2017 Leinster Winter Championships last weekend and were rewarded with an abundance of silverware. As a team, the squad won 6 gold medals, 11 silver and 4 bronze. On an individual level, a special mention is reserved for Darragh Greene, who has been selected to represent Ireland at the European Short Course Championships in Copenhagen this December.
For more information on how to get involved with Swimming at UCD, visit the club Facebook page @ucdswimpolo
Chris Foley – Sports Editor
