Jacob Phillips
USW took charge in a compelling victory at home against Swansea University.
As USW started strongly, it was hard to take your eyes off Jekabs Gruduls (1) as he began to show why he was captain through passionately organising his team.
The strong start was continued with accurate serves that got the better of Swansea at times, though the visitors did do particularly well to position themselves efficiently and block on the defence.
However, Gruduls had a golden touch with the ball at his hands, providing forceful shots in which the Swansea front and back line simply could not get near.
Comfortably leading again in the early stages of the second half, David Bellon Ramos (2) proved to be an outlet through showing impressive energy while managing to appear in all areas of the court. As the game calmed, Swansea attempted to fight back through resiliently blocking shots and committing attacks through the heart of the front 3, though Jekabs Gruduls denied them with his consistent, dominant strikes. Swansea grew into the game in patches, but USW took the second half by the scruff of the neck and proved to be too much ending the half 25-16.
USW defined power in the third set, Gruduls continuously stood out, with hi3s performance alone taking Swansea to the sword. In turn, the third half was a breeze, with USW on the front foot throughout and Swansea already looking beaten. It couldn’t go unnoticed the fact that Gruduls was USW’s star man, as he tormented Swansea with his vigorously driven shots towards Swansea’s half of the court proving to lead his team to a 25-11 victory in the third and final set, Ending with a perfect 3-0.