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DCU Volleyball is under new coaching staff this year, after Benny O’Regan, an Irish international volleyball player who coached the team for three years, moved to Waterford IT.
“It has been a memorable chapter for me with fantastic times created both on and off the court with all of those who shared my presence.
“The success on the court has been phenomenal over the three years and the memories won’t ever be forgotten by me and all of those involved,” he wrote in a farewell post on Facebook in September of this year.
Gerry White has taken over the team from O’Regan. White has “over 35 years experience” and DCU volleyball club chairperson Anna Colwell says she and the team are “very excited” to see where White and his two coaching assistants, Ronan White and Conor White, will take them.
DCU women’s and men’s volleyball teams have secured wins against Dundalk IT (DKIT) with the exact same scores, beating the opposition three sets to zero, however, both losing to Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) three sets to zero last week.
DCU volleyball men’s team played at home on Wednesday, while the women’s team played away in RCSI on Friday.
Colwell said that the teams played very well, despite their circumstances preceding the matches.
“We were very proud of how both teams played together, especially considering that we had about one hour of training as a team prior to the games.
“Everyone was able to pick it up and play together and look like they had been playing together for years, despite only two girls and four boys actually having played together before,” she said.
The women’s team are due to play another match against RCSI, as well as Griffith College, next week in round three of the Student Sport Ireland (SSI) Volleyball League in RCSI.
The teams have been quite successful over the past year, with the women’s team winning first place in the intervarsity’s plate competition, and the men securing first place in both the junior and mixed category of the VAI Championship.
Additionally, both teams ranked first and second in cup and plate in the first ever Beach Volleyball competition.
DCU women’s team currently sit second in the league table, behind RCSI, with DKIT in third and Griffith College in last place so far.
The final league results will be decided in mid November, with quarter finals being played the week of the November 18th and finals on Thursday November 28th.
Colwell says that the club have “big plans” to boost volleyball in DCU, as last year “the majority of the team were international students who have since left DCU.”
“We are excited that this year we have so many new joiners who will be staying in DCU for several years, as it will definitely help the club improve,” she said.
Dara Browne
Image Credit: DCU Volleyball