It was a great first weekend of the National League for Galway's Premier Men and Division 1 Women's teams.
Both teams travelled to Dalkey to play against Dalkey Devils and came back with 3-0 and 3-1 victories.
Galway VC Women played first. With some new experienced and powerful players in their roster, GVC aims to rank high in the Division 1 League, with the goal of a promotion to the Premier League.
The match against the newly promoted Dalkey was a great way to start the season to try all possible team combinations.
The match started slow with a lot of service errors. Galway took the first set to get into their game. After a few long and well-fought rallies, GVC won the first set.
From the second set, Galway VC showed their great skills - most of all with effective services from O'Boyle and O'Neill - putting the opponents in great difficulty and eventually winning the match.
Final score: Dalkey Devils 0 - Galway VC 3 (22-25, 11-25, 15-25)
Galway VC women's roster: Giulia Comini (C), Mikal O'Boyle, Emer Phelan, Ienne Lumelay, Nedina Marku, Amanda Burgio, Eimear O'Neill, Daniela Bowers, Deira Valci, Laura Idoux, Cerena Miravalles, Aoibhin McDonnell.
Coach: Giovanni Spera, Aidan McDonnell.
Galway’s men, seeking to start their Premier League season with a hit, had a very tough match against the newly promoted Dalkey who presented a battle to Galway boys, but GVC eventually gained 3 points.
The first set started strong, with a few aces from the Dalkey team and a series of good slash hits from GVC middle blocker McGlynn. A very entertaining set, with long rallies, unbelievable defenses and hard hits finished in favour of the Galway team. In the second set, our boys went down 9-4 before starting to play their best volleyball and overtaking their opponents with a series of effective services from Captain Flanagan.
After a third set dominated by the Devils, the fourth set was a battle until the very last point. With amazing blocks and spikes from both sides, the set ended with a red card to Dalkey that gave the last point to Galway and closed the match.
Final Score: Dalkey Devils 1 -Galway VC 3 (23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 24-26)
Galway VC men's roster: Padraig Flanagan (C), Peter McGlynn, Aidan McDonnell, Maycon Lopez, Josef Lumelay, Jeremiah Obiekwe, Noah Leamy, Eoin Kinsella, Konrad Kizielewicz, Matteo Pezzopane, Raymond Loo, Marc Lester Palomeno.
Coach: Amanda Burgio.
The next matches of the League for our teams will be on October 15th in Oranmore, with the men facing TCD Volleyball Club and the women Munster Thunder Volleyball Club.
On October 14th, our newly formed Division 2 Men team will start their season in Galway against Tallaght Rockets Volleyball Club.
