Chichester College dish out a lesson to volleyball rivals

The British Colleges Championships was relocated to the Sports Village at Bath University and saw some of the top BCS teams in the country compete for the coveted titles.

Teams who qualified at regional level went on to represent their region with further education colleges from Scotland, the south west (Petroc), eastern England (Chelmsford), the East Midlands (Wyggeston), the north east (Prior Pursglove), West Midlands (Stoke), the north west (Salford) and the south east (Chichester).

The crunch match came in the final game against the north east, who had also gone unbeaten. It went to a set each but Chichester had the superior serve, technical ability, and strength of character to beat them.

Before the competition the girls had been putting in up to eight hours’ training a week with coach Jess Smith to stand a good chance of retaining the title. The squad had been further strengthened by three international players this year – Sian and Megan Warren (Wales) and Georgia Bird (England).

The eighth member of the team, Elizabeth Thoms, was unable to take part in the competition as she had qualified as a finalist in a ladies’ tennis singles tournament, coming a creditable fourth.

All players were strong and played beyond their capabilities.