Oxford University
Volleyball Club

13/08/09Fixtures 2009/10

Get out your diary, the fixtures for the coming season have been provisionally scheduled! You can check out the student fixtures using the links on the match schedule page, and the NVL fixtures for both men and women are on the EVA website, along with the Cup Draw.

If you're interested in playing for the NVL or student teams please get in touch with the corresponding team captain.

30/07/09"Summer" volleyball

The British Summer weather continues to baffle everyone, including the Met Office, but there's been plenty of volleyball to keep us warm! The last month has seen lots of beach action, with tournaments having taken place in Croyde, Margate, Sandbanks (Poole - the world's 2nd biggest natural harbour!), & Weymouth and more to come in Great Yarmouth and other places. Various people have been representing Oxford - Brian, Darek, Gareth, Ludo, Paul, Jon, Martijn, Ania, Kerstin, Ketlin, Hannah, Jana, Kath, Milena - with varying degrees of success, but more importantly lots of laughs!

Earlier this month, the long-awaited OUVC group holiday took place - after George's initiative took a group of about 10 to Corfu last year, this time our social sec extraordinaire Claire led 18 to the gorgeous south coast of Portugal. Photos are on facebook and will probably be added here at a later date. Our collective thanks go to Claire and everyone that came along. A mini-report is available! Apologies to everyone that couldn't be there, and we hope you can make it next time! :)

Training has still been going on, with good turnouts, and Brian has been kind enough to continue attending to provide coaching. If you're in Oxford we hope to see you there, and if you're not in Oxford then we hope you're keeping fit and having fun wherever you are!

Finally, if you are on your Summer hols, and are short of things to do, then don't forget you can check out whatever volleyball is on tv, or watch online at UniversalSports.com - beach or photos of indoor, or find some good clips on youtube and add them to our forum if they're not there already!

p.s. In other UK volleyball news - there's been a change to some little club called Malory (who should be congratulated on winning the men's competition at Whitefield this year)!

29/06/09New training times

Now that Summer has arrived, we have some new training times at Iffley Sports Hall. Training on Tuesdays has been replaced by Saturday sessions, and Thursday has a new time. Both sessions are now mixed, and all club members are invited to attend. See the training sessions page for full details.

05/06/09Manic May!

OUVC's had a very busy month, with several events happening in various places. First, there was the AGM held in St. John's (thanks D!), where we discussed the Club's progress this year, updated the Constitution to reflect new roles in the Club, and elected next year's committee. Then a few days later we had the Alumni matches between student teams and a selection of returning players. Both matches were great fun to watch, and saw the Alumni triumph in both the men's and women's games. The day was rounded off with this year's Club Dinner at Rewley House, where assorted people were thanked for their contributions to the Club this year (and in past years). Then the next weekend, to celebrate Darek's birthday, a great number of people turned up for volleyball in the park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Various ladder challenges were made, but at the end of the day everyone retained their spots (as far as I know) with Martijn & Jon sitting at the top. Moving on to the OUVC College League, Thundercats were victorious in the Final, beating St. John's in 3 close sets. And more inter-college volleyball fun was had at the annual Cuppers & 4Max tournament. St. John's again lost out in the final against the inventively named "Savage Cabbage", while Brookes were successful in the 4Max tournament, beating teams from Reading and Warwick to claim the title. Hopefully next time the weather forecast will be more positive, and we look forward to hosting even more teams from around the UK (not to say that the turnout was bad this year - 14 4Max teams & 10 Cuppers teams enjoyed the tournaments this year). Finally, Oxford enjoyed what must be its most successful year at the Beach! We entered 7 pairs into the men's and women's National Student Beach Cup - Claire/Erica, Charlotte/Sarah, Hannah/Jana, Andy/Krzysztof, Bartek/Kuba, Darek/Han-Ru, Denis/Paul (who were all cheered on fairly and impartially by the "Other Halves" team of Gareth, Luca, & Marina). Experience played a huge role in the weekend, and it was the old pros (!) Hannah & Jana who made the most of their beach knowledge to leave everyone in their wake - they won the ladies tournament without dropping a set. Claire and Erica followed closely in 3rd place, and a 4s team consisting of Andy/Charlotte/KBar/Sarah/Paul managed to finish 2nd. The men's teams didn't fare quite so well (to be fair, it would be difficult to do better!), with D/P losing out to the finalists in a very tight match, while D/H-R managed to put together some good results and finished 7th. A list of the final standings is available on the Volleyball England website. Most importantly, the weekend (and the rest of the month) was incredibly fun!

OUVC now has a little breather while students get their exams out of the way, but there are still training sessions and the outdoor twos' ladder going on.

31/05/09P A - C H O W!

Enormous congratulations go to Team Pachow (a.k.a Hansie & Jansie a.k.a JaHannah. i.e. Hannah Ruddick & Jana Orszaghova) who today became National Student Beach Champions!!! They dominated the women's tournament in Bournemouth, winning without dropping a set all weekend.

Massive congratulations go to all the other Oxford pairs that took part too - between them Oxford came back with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places - J&H won the ladies', while Claire & Erica took 3rd place, and "Oxford 2" (Andy, Charlotte, Sarah, Krzysztof, Paul?) came 2nd in the fours competition, and all of the other Oxford pairs gave a great account of themselves, especially "old-timers" Paul & Denis who finished day 1 in second place! :)

I think I can safely say this was one of OUVC's best weekends of the year - thanks to everyone who came and made it so fun, and thanks to Bournemouth for providing the sun, sea, and sand (and volleyball courts)!

A more detailed report will be up soon, along with photos.

17/05/094Max conquers British climate!

(Bad) weather always looks worse through a window

The Cuppers & 4Max tournaments went ahead yesterday, in spite of the weatherman's slightly gloomy forecast, and were enjoyed by all the 24 teams that attended. Many many thanks go to the main organisers - Andreas, Jana, Christo & Grace - and to the teams that played and bought all our cakes and BBQ food!

Savage Cabbage were crowned Cuppers Champions, while Brookes went undefeated throughout the whole day to take the 4Max title.

17/05/09Thundercats Ho!

The League Final between Thundercats and St. John's began on Tues 28th April, after R-Monkeys claimed 3rd place by walkover against Spider Pigs. St. John's won the first set 25-22, then Thundercats came back to take the second 25-19, before our allotted hall time ran out! The third (and final) set was played on Tues 12 May, where Thundercats squeezed through to claim the match with the third set 25-23. So, congratulations to this year's champions - Thundercats!

Finally, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's taken part in the League this year, we hope you had fun! And an even bigger thanks to Grace, who did a great job of organising and running the League. Thanks G!

15/05/094Max/Cuppers News

We politely request that everyone crosses their fingers for a sunny day tomorrow, while we hold our outdoor 4-a-side volleyball tournament! We have over 20 teams signed up, so it looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Feel free to come along at registration time if your team hasn't pre-registered, or if you're looking to join a team on the day.

We will be keeping a close eye on the weather (and out the window of course!), and will be in touch with team captains should our plans for the day change at all.

29/04/09Tues Training Update

The Oxford Student League Final, between St John's & Thundercats, took place yesterday, but they didn't manage to finish! So, it will be concluded on Tues 12 May, when the exhibition match between the League Winners and OUVC Blues Team will also take place. In the contest for 3rd/4th place, R-Monkeys were awarded a walkover against Spider Pigs.

19/04/09Commiserations NVL Women...

The WNVL team played their play-off triangular today, with the sad outcome that they lost both matches in 5 sets. Salford go through to the second play-off after beating Northampton 3-0, and then overcoming our ladies in a very tight match. After spending most of their energy in the first match, Ox's WNVL were unable to regroup and after another 5 sets returned to Oxford without any consolation victory. In case there was any doubt that it wasn't to be our day, Claire twisted her ankle late in the final set of the day - everyone wishes her a speedy recovery.

16/04/09Coming Soon...

OUVC's had a fairly quiet Easter, with most activity taking place in the Outdoor Twos Ladder while the weather was nice. It's a bit tricky now that it's started raining again, but hopefully the students will bring the sunshine back with them when they return from their various corners of the globe!

We do have some treats in store coming up, which will certainly benefit from a return to more cheerful weather. Please do read and acquaint yourself with the forthcoming events...

1. WNVL's quest for promotion continues with Play-Off matches against Northampton & City of Salford on Sunday 19 April, in Northampton. The ladies need to win the triangular fixture against the second-placed teams from the North and East Divisions in order to take a shot at Herts Nomads who finished 9th in Div 2 this season. (This would be played the following Sunday 26th)
2. Oxford Student League Finals - Thundercats take on St. John's in the OUVC League Final on Tues 28 April
3. AGM - Wed 29 April, 7pm (venue tbc). Everyone in the Club is invited to attend the Annual General Meeting, to hear reports on the Club's progress and plans for the next year. The meeting will also involve the election of next year's committee, for which there are still positions without nominations. If you would like to know more about what you could do to help and get involved in running the Club next year please get in touch with Han-Ru or Jana.
4. The annual Alumni Match is scheduled for Saturday 2 May. There is info available on this website, or get in touch with Megan to find out more.
5. The evening after the Alumni Match (so that's still May 2nd) sees the Club's Annual Black Tie Dinner, to be held at Rewley House. Tickets, £35, need to be ordered in advance, again please contact Megan asap. Don't miss out! ;)
6. We'll be celebrating the outdoor volleyball season on Sat 16 May, with the OUVC Cuppers & 4Max tournaments - these friendly competitions are great fun, and you should definitely make room for it in your diary. More details are listed on the Cuppers/4Max page, where you can also register for the events.
7. Last on the calendar is the EVA Student Beach Cup, which is going to be held in Bournemouth on the weekend of 30/31 May. The registration deadline is 22nd May, and more details are on the official site.

29/03/09Congrats NVL Women!

This just in - looks like our NVL ladies are heading to the playoffs! They'd already played all their matches before today, the final day of the women's NVL fixtures, but their play-off contenders, Reading Aces, had two matches to complete. They lost 3-2 against Cardiff Tigers, which means our girls finish above them by virtue of the fact that they've conceded one less set in the whole season! (Or, alternatively, they beat Aces 3-0, and only lost 3-2, so would win on a head-to-head basis - after checking the rules, positions go on 'sets difference' first, but it's still nice to know we would have beaten them this way too!) ...see the League Table for yourself...

27/03/09Alumni - get in touch with us!

Dust off your half-Blues jackets, it's time for the Alumni match! It's scheduled for Saturday 2nd May, and there will be a Club dinner in the evening. Get in touch with Megan, our Alumni Officer, or visit our Alumni Page for more details.

25/03/09Easter Training Times

The training times for the next few weeks of Easter have been finalised.

17/03/09W1 finish 7th @ BUCS Finals

Haven't quite gotten around to writing a full report, but for anyone who hasn't heard - W1 placed 7th at the BUCS Finals in Sheffield. They lost their opening group games, against Napier, Bath, and Durham, before beating Birmingham on the final day. Photos are up in the gallery.

17/03/09Twos Ladder

Beach season is almost upon us, and in preparation for it, OUVC is pleased to announce the launch of its own twos ladder. Pairs can sign up and challenge other pairs to matches, aiming to climb their way to the top of the ladder! More details about the format are available on the twos page.

17/03/09Easter Training Times

Easter training times have been published. The later weeks will be up soon too.

12/03/09W2 in Cup Final drama!

The W2 team took on Warwick in the BUCS Cup Final yesterday, in a thrilling match that went all the way to the fifth set. Unfortunately, they didn't manage to pull off what would have been a historic victory, but we're still proud of them nevertheless.

10/03/09MNVL Training Times

MNVL training times update now that the student men have finished their season.

Easter training times will be announced soon - watch this space.

08/03/09Varsity 2009

The annual Varsity Match took place yesterday in Cambridge, with all 4 student teams from OUVC taking part in competitive games against their Cambridge counterparts. The day kicked off with M2 and W2, who lost their games 1-3 and 0-3 respectively, although the scores are a little harsh on our sides. W1 started their match brightly, with Erica putting in some good serves to build an early lead. They sustained this throughout the first set, and allowed the momentum to carry them to a quick second set as well, with the whole team scoring points in a very aesthetically pleasing manner! After such impressive play they had a brief lapse which allowed Cambridge to a 16-11 lead in the third set, but pulled together to storm back and take the third 25-21, completing a straight sets victory. Finally M1 stepped up to face Cambridge, with whom they held a 1-1 record in the league this season. Oxford started the stronger, and a set full of well-coordinated attacks and firm defence resulted in a justified 1-0 lead. Cambridge fought back in the second set and won the third too. The fourth was closely fought, but the Tabs managed to gain the upper hand and secured a 3-1 victory.

Our thanks go to Cambridge for hosting a memorable day, which we hope they enjoyed as much as we did. A fine dinner in the evening and partying for those with enough energy capped off a great day for volleyball!

Congratulations go to all the players who took part, especially our MVPs of the day - Sol, Krzysztof, Hannah, Han-Ru - and our loyal band of supporters.

Photos taken by Frerk and Gareth at Varsity are now up in our gallery. Frerk has also put up a nice album on viewbook, and there are more photos on Facebook.

05/03/09Volleyball latest

The W2 have seen the most action, winning their BUCS Cup semi-final in convincing style against Northampton. They now face Warwick 1 in the final... congratulations and best of their luck for that, which will happen on 25/03/09.

They then played a couple of matches in Northampton last weekend, and with a somewhat depleted squad, they came back with one victory and one loss, against Anglia Ruskin and Aston respectively.

Meanwhile, M2 hit the road for their BUCS Cup semi-final and travelled to Cambridge to also play Anglia Ruskin. However, having beaten Aston the previous week in dramatic fashion, they were unable to repeat the feat this week, and came back second-best in a 3-1 defeat. But, they obviously learned from it, and, buoyed by home support, crushed Nottinham Trent 3-0 in their last league match of the season.

The MNVL team had a big game away in Cambridge (what is it with that place at the moment?! By my calculations we'll have played 7 games against the various "Cambridge" teams in the space of two weeks), which ended 3-1 to the other side - not a complete embarrassment considering they're placed 2nd and have only lost one game this season. Our NVL team will be looking to their last 3 fixtures, and hoping to collect maximum points in a bid to avoid relegation from Div 2.

Last, but by no means least, news from the WNVL team, who are looking at the other half of the table, and have hopes of promotion. They certainly helped their chances with two victories on 22nd Feb... you can read about them in the match reports against Solent Ladies and Reading Aces. We wish them lots of luck in their final two league games against Wiltshire Mavericks and Cardiff Tigers on 22/03/09.

Regarding the site, we've added a couple of albums to the gallery - various photos from EVA (thanks to Frerk & Gareth), and the WNVL's encounter with Reading Aces thanks to Mac Adamarczuk. And for a handy way of keeping up with additions to the site, why not sign up to our RSS feed?

01/03/09OUVC.net V2.0

Hello! You're looking at the new and improved OUVC website. We decided it was time for a lick of paint and some structural changes to make updating the site easier so that we can keep you up to date with all the OUVC-related goings-on.

Feel free to take a look around. We have a new RSS feed which will update you with the latest changes to the website, and a new 'lightbox' gallery where you can browse our action-packed photos!

Finally, if you discover anything wrong/broken on the new site, please inform Gareth, our webmaster, and he'll look into fixing it asap. (But don't mention match reports - they're temporarily unavailable.)

p.s. Some pages from the old site have been cached so that you can see what's changed - 1 2 3 4 5 6.

01/03/09Training times for Week 7

See the details below:

• Mon 2nd Mar - 5:45- 8:00pm, Gregs, W1+ WNVL
• Mon 2nd Mar - 7:45-10:00pm, Gregs, Student men+MNVL (Friendly match)
• Tues 3rd Mar - 4:15- 6:00pm, Iffley, W2 +W1
• Thurs 5th Mar - 5:45- 8:00pm, Iffley, Student men (Please note that this will not be an NVL training)
• Thurs 5th Mar - 7:45- 10:00pm, Gregs, WNVL+W1 (Friendly match)
• Sat 7th Mar - 4:30 - 7:30pm, Iffley, MNVL

23/02/09Catch-up

It's been a little quiet here since M2's quarter-final success, which is normally a bad thing, and this time is no exception. Since last time, the M1 team lost their BUCS knockout game against a very strong Bath side, the WNVL ladies had a disappointing loss at home against promotion rivals Reading Aces (but did beat Cardiff Ladies on the same day), and the MNVL guys lost an important game against their relegation rivals Guildford.

But it's not all doom and gloom - the last week has seen M2 grab their second league victory of the season in a very entertaining encounter against Aston. WNVL also had a successful visit to Southampton, where they took revenge with a sweet 3-0 victory over Reading Aces, and took another 3 points against Solent Ladies. And finally, in an exhibition match last week, M2 showed no mercy to the W1 team, utilising their height to block and hit their way to victory. Perhaps the girls can claim they were (successfully) helping the boys' confidence in preparation for the Aston game?

12/02/09Match reports - M2 and WNVL

While you wait for news of the M1 BUCS Knockout match (or if you just fancy some reading) take a look at M2's loquacious match report from their BUCS Cup quarter-final against Nottingham 2. And when you're done with that, there's the WNVL report from their weekend in Devon.

11/02/09Newsflash!

The W1 team have won their BUCS Knockout game against UCL, 3 sets to 1. Report to follow later.... maybe. And while you wait for that report, why not make a note that the M1 team's got their Knockout match tomorrow against Bath, being played at Iffley at 6PM. All support is welcome! Also scheduled to play today were the W2 team, but they were awarded a walkover in their match against Aston, which means they're through to the next round of the BUCS Cup where they will meet Northampton.

09/02/09EVA Student Cup

OUVC braved the icy/snowy roads to head up north (where it was actually warmer!?!) for this year's EVA Cup in Leeds. You can read the long version, or to put it simply, we didn't do as well as we could have. (But we still had fun.)

30/01/09Loughborough inflict Oxford woe

In their final league matches of the season, the men's and women's first teams both lost 3-1 to their Loughborough counterparts. With both of our teams guaranteed a qualifying place for the BUCS knockout round, we were playing for pride (and the chance to finish second in the table), and while the results may not have been the desired ones, it was not through lack of effort.

The results mean that Oxford M1 & W1 both finish 3rd (to be confirmed as W1 are on same points as Birmingham), and will play a knockout match with the winner going to BUCS finals. The knockout fixtures should be published on Monday 2nd February, so we await the announcement with bated breath.

27/01/09W1 move up to 2nd place

The student women played their rearranged match against Nottingham on Sunday, with an early trip up North for a 10am start. Boosted by an energetic soundtrack while they navigated the badly signposted route to the Uni, they took an early lead, and never looked back as they stormed to a 3-0 victory. Photos are up in the gallery.

The points from the win moved them up two places in the league, where they sit in second place thanks to sets difference. They'll be looking to finish strongly as they play their last game of the season against Loughborough, whose last match was a defeat against Cambridge.

19/01/092009 - Year of the Ox!

Technically the Chinese New Year doesn't start yet, but I'm gonna use the headline anyway, ok?

The NVL teams had their first matches of 2009, and they weren't entirely what you would call successful. The men slipped to a defeat away in Loughborough, who they'd already beaten in Oxford this season. They travelled with a depleted team, and were on the losing side of a 4-set battle.

The women fared slightly better, with a triangular match hosted by Cardiff. They took a little time to warm up, losing the first match against a decent Cardiff Tigers team 3-0, but were comfortable victors over City of Bristol with their own 3-0 win.

15/12/08Week 9

Week 9?! Yes, apparently some universities actually work for longer than 8 weeks per term, and so the men were forced to squeeze in a match against Nottingham before they left Oxford to load up on cakes and biscuits and those other volleyball-enhancing substances that everyone consumes at Christmas. Anyway, it seems that without the distractions of a usual working week, M1 were able to raise their level against a strong Nottingham side and after dropping the first set they battled on to wrap up a 3-1 victory, which ensures them at least 3rd place in the league for the season. Hurray! There may be a report here soon, depending on whether Darek can be bothered...

The weekend brought some big games for the NVL teams, but sadly the results were not favourable. The men played an excellent match against a strong (& big!) Manchester team, but were only able to come out of it with 1 set - the consolation being that it was a definite contender for best set of the OUVC season! The next day they played Leeds, and were unfortunate 3-2 losers.

Meanwhile the women travelled to Tendring for a Shield Cup match. In what should have been a fairly straight-forward match, the ladies succumbed to a surprising 3-1 defeat.

04/12/08Week 8

Oxford 2 Cambridge 0. Enough said :)

Well, you can't really say too much about beating the Tabs can you? So here's the match report.

At the weekend the women's NVL team took on Team Solent, and secured their third successive victory. You can read about all three here: 1, 2, 3!

28/11/08SportsFed Ball (aka Outreach-ooh-ha-ha!)

The night of Thurs 27th Nov saw the annual SportsFed Ball take place, in the setting of the Oxford Masonic Centre(!?!). The evening started with pre-drinks in the Duke of Cambridge, where one of Darek's many fans got a little over-excited and had to be restrained by the bar staff! (It should be noted that it wasn't anyone in OUVC, but a rather random old lady instead!) The event was fortunate in at least one respect - it provided the Ball-goers with something to talk about while they waited (quite a long time) for their taxis...

Once everyone made it to the Ball we were seated only to find that they'd split the two tables - in hindsight, perhaps they were thinking of the noise one table generated last year and the prospect of two united OUVC tables was too much for them to cope with! The food was tasty, the drink wasn't too bad either, and there was plenty of conversation too.

With dinner out of the way, it was time for the awards... there were trophies for club, team, sportsman/woman, and outreach club of the year, with OUVC in contention for Outreach for the second year running. And we won! For the second year! Hooray! Congratulations and thanks go to everyone involved with helping in the scheme, and to SportsFed themselves for their contribution :)

So, in triumphant mood, it was time for the club to bust some moves on the dancefloor! Some people busted more moves than others (well, we're not all gymnasts who can do the splits at will.... we have to save it for when we can't reach a ball on court!), but everyone had a great time!

In conclusion, thanks to everyone who came and made it such a fun event, thanks to Claire for organising us all and spending half her night on the phone to the taxi company, and well done to the Club for adding to it's trophy cabinet!

Report by Gareth

p.s. Police are looking for witnesses for two assaults that took place - the suspect has been described as tall, with long brown hair, and being the captain of the women's first team!

p.p.s. Photos from the Ball should be up soon... in the meantime check Facebook!

26/11/08Week 7

It was lucky number 7 for Ox's two 1st teams, with both securing emphatic victories against their opponents. The ladies were up first, making easy work of beating local rivals Brookes. Later on the men took the court against a fearsome Cranfield team who were fresh off the back of beating league leaders Cambridge. The men wasted little time establishing an 8-0 lead in the first set, and carried on in similar style for the rest of the match.

The men's 2nd team had a tough game against Anglia Ruskin, not without controversy, and came back defeated.

Next week is number 8, with the final games before Christmas. M1 and W1 face Cambridge home and away repectively, and M2 travel to Warwick.

23/11/08Weekend 6

On Saturday Oxford played host to a tournament of matches between teams in the Womens 2nd team's division. Some excellent organisation meant that instead of travelling for hours each week, they got to take it wasy and just turn up this weekend for a selection of their matches this season. And the plan was clearly effective, with Oxford winning 3 of their four matches! They now await another tournament to be hosted in Northampton later in the season to decide the finishing places in the division.

Meanwhile, the women's NVL team had an eventful trip to Cardiff, where they took on Team Southampton and Cardiff.

20/11/08Week 6

The students had a week of mixed fortunes - the ladies succumbed to a defeat away to Birmingham, while the men eased to victory against rivals Brookes.

This week it's the girls' turn to face Brookes at Iffley, while the men's 1st team are in action against Cranfield and the 2nds play away at Anglia Ruskin.

16/11/08Weekend 5

This weekend saw the next round of the Cup for Oxford's NVL teams. The men faced opposition from Rainbow (Birmingham), and were fairly comfortable 3-1 winners in the end, after initially making it difficult for themselves. Meanwhile, the women travelled to London to face Div 1 Malory. It was always going to be a difficult match, with (at least) two GB players on the other side of the net, but Oxford gave a very respectable account of themselves. They came out of it with a 0-3 defeat, but will take heart from the way they fought for their points and weren't given any freebies by Malory. You can read the Captain's match report for further details.

This week the students face crucial matches against Oxford Brookes (men) and Birmingham (women), which they need to win in order to turn their recent form around. They should be looking forward to them, both teams having won the reverse fixture already this season.

13/11/08Week 5

After the success of the EVA qualifying tournament, it was back to BUCS League matches this week, and Oxford were unable to carry on the momentum from the weekend (at least in terms of results). The first teams both faced Loughborough, with the ladies playing away with a slightly depleted squad, and the men playing at home. The women put up a good fight, but found the sets slip away from them and suffered a 3-0 defeat. The men also fought hard, often neck and neck or ahead of their opponents, but in the end they were just edged out in a 3-2 defeat. The M2 also had a game, travelling to Coventry, but unfortunately they lost 3-0.

Read the men's and women's detailed match reports.

06/11/08Week 4

Another week, and with it came 3 matches against Nottingham, where M1, M2 & W1 played their respective opposites. Both M1 and W1 put up good fights, but were unable to impose themselves on their matches and subsequently fell to their second successive defeats. M2, however, managed to maintain a fairly high level throughout their match, closing out a tight third set to complete a 3-0 win.

Read the match reports.

30/10/08Week 3

A disappointing week for Oxford, as both M1 and W1 slumped to defeats against Cambridge following their victories last week. Match reports will appear in due course (maybe! ... you can see the women's brief summary here), once they've recovered from the trauma! In happier news, two reports have been added for the Women's NVL team's first two games of the season - which we won! Read them here & here.

25/10/08Week 2

The women's students' first team played on Friday, away to Oxford Brookes. An entertaining encounter, with both teams pushing hard for the win, it resulted in another win for OUVC. Read the match report here.

The men's students' first team played on Wednesday, away to Cranfield. Some tense moments were endured before the team triumphed... read the match report here.

16/10/08Week 1, 2008/09

The first week of matches for the students are over, with M1, M2, & W1 all in action. M1 and W1 started the season with fairly comfortable wins against Oxford Brookes and Birmingham respectively, while M2 were very unlucky to come back from Lincoln with 2 sets rather than 3. Read the match reports here (with thanks to Andy, Darek & Sarah).

The week's results mean that OUVC is still undefeated at home so far this season, with both NVL teams having won all 5 of their home games already this season. Long may this run continue!

The Club celebrated the start of the season with the first social of the year on Friday - thanks to this year's social sec, Claire, for providing the venue (St Hilda's MCR) and her famous banoffee pie! Thanks also go to Grace & Jana for cooking enough for an army (but tastier than army food I'm sure)! Also, a big thank you to whoever left their cd in the cd player - we appreciated the tunes!