Varsity success for Cambridge

The Cambridge University Ladies Netball Club were in action against Oxford on Saturday 21 February; a frenetic match that saw the lead change time after time. The Blues were down in the first quarter but managed to pull the game level at 14-14 at half time. Some half-time changes reinvigorated the side and the Light Blues took the lead. Despite some solid play by Oxford they couldn’t regain the lead and Cambridge went on to be victorious 34 -31.

In the 2nds match, after initially being outclassed by Oxford, the Jays fought their way back taking the score to 26-26 at half-time. Cambridge then went in front in the second half before Oxford overtook them in the last five minutes to claim a narrow 35-33 win. Woman of the match went to Jays Captain, Jo Keppe.

Meanwhile, the Varsity kickboxers also squared up to each other for a busy fight night. A total of nine bouts over the course of the evening saw Captain Chris Webb of Queen’s College kick things off with a win followed by Josh Jenkins of Homerton who, after an exhausting match, was subdued by his Oxford opponent. The women followed next with Veronika Kantorovich outclassing her opponent to secure a win while Downing’s Heidi Holmes fought valiantly but couldn’t keep up with her adversary.

After a brief break Cambridge’s Rupert Goodway won convincingly against Oxford’s Naoya Koda. Oxford then came back to take the next two bouts with James Waddell unable to stand up to Zac Etheridge and Peter Stovall falling to Borna Guevel. A closely fought match followed with Sam Golscheider being denied victory to leave Oxford victorious. With a win out of reach, Ollie Okunsunle won the last and final match to bring the scores to Cambridge 4 – Oxford 5.

The next varsity clash came from the Trampoliners with Oxford fielding their strongest-ever team. But a Cambridge side of Asha Bayliss, Kate Bramall, Nuala Tumelty and Carol Evans were ready for them. After the compulsory routines the teams were left tied but some tremendous performances from the Light Blues, including Asha Bayliss performing a routine with a difficulty rating of 9.1 (the equal highest ever for a varsity match), clinched the win.

Elsewhere, Varsity fencing was started off by the men’s 2nds who took a convincing win from Oxford in the first match of the day, scoring 127 -120. That was followed by the women’s Light Blues who fought a very close match against their Oxford rivals but eventually won through 117 -114. The women’s seconds came next with a nervy performance by Oxford that was capitalised upon by Cambridge who took the win 135 – 107. The Cambridge domination was completed by the men’s team who took an easy win from their Oxford rivals scoring 122 – 92.

Away from Varsity clashes, Cambridge University also had a hard-fought rugby union match against the Wooden Spoon Anti-Assassins. With passes going astray and tackles and kicks for touch failing to be effective, a whitewash looked to be on the cards. The Light Blues managed to claw their way back into the game but went down 36-33 to their rivals. Cambridge Captain Dan Vickerman now has the job of turning the Light Blues into a more cohesive unit before next season’s Varsity match.

Photograph courtesy of Vin Shen Ban