Volleyball tournament
Teams from near and far dig the sunny weather on North Inch
02.06.2023
Delightful sunshine played a major – and welcome –role in making this year’s Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament a roaring success.
There was a festival atmosphere throughout the weekend on Perth’s historic North Inch.
And families were very much in evidence spectating on the sidelines as the 36 courts filled with players eager to do their best in this unique tournament.
As usual, the three mixed divisions were the most popular with more than half of the 112 teams opting for this format in favour of simply men’s or women’s competition.
The women’s competition had the returning two teams from the Faroe Islands, who now look forward to and relish the event every year.
Both Faroe teams opened with section victories, with the Fleyr Faroes winning a close contest against Weronika’s Angels 2515, 21-25, 15-6 and IF beating Tynedale 25-14, 25-16.
When the two sides met, it was the IF ladies who won through 25-7, 25-13 to top the group.
At the end of the day, IF and Tynedale qualified for the final stages on Sunday alongside Edinburgh outfit Dat Ace Doe and Glasgow’s Absolutely Fabulous.
Dat Ace Doe moved on to defeat Absolutely Fabulous to lift the trophy.
In men’s division one, the seven teams played a round robin over the two days and it was extremely close.
Aberdeen’s Kamikaze International defeated Choo Choo Boys, with their three Canadian players who had flown over specially for the tournament in their ranks.
In men’s division two the final was contested between ex-kinross High lad Ben Mclachlan’s Edinburgh collegebased Miguel and the Chalupas and Aberdeen’s The Squad.
In a close match it was the Edinburgh Napier College students who came from behind to win 19-25, 25-22, 15-12.
Men’s division three witnessed Clackmannanshire team “The Clackers” take on Dundee’s Anchor Boys and, again, this was an extremely close match.
The Clackers edged victory by the narrowest of margins 26-24, 27-25.
It was a Scotland/latvia versus England final in the mixed division one competition where Newcastle’s Gold Diggers won 25-22, 25-16.
Mixed division two, meanwhile, saw Dundee’s Anchor team losing out to the appropriately named team “Win The Final” 11-25, 21-25.
The last final of the day, which finished at 5pm, was mixed division three with an Edinburgh versus Glasgow showdown.
Glasgow’s “No Trophy No Try” clinched the title after an epic 3129, 25-21 win over the east coast “Sets on the Beach” side.
Local teams were very much in evidence throughout the divisions with a variety of Perth and Kinross players taking part along with neighbouring areas of Dundee and Fife.