Colleges take Oriam by Storm in the College National Finals!

Scottish Colleges went head-to-head at Oriam in a spectacular day of competition that included basketball, volleyball, badminton and 7-a-side football!

Badminton

The first matches started with City of Glasgow College up against Fife College. Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles were played in the team event and Calum Donaldson did well to win the team in white a point in the Men’s Singles. Glasgow took the win 7-1.

After a short rest Glasgow were back on the court to face Edinburgh College. Robbie Greenan (named Most Valuable Player) inspired the Edinburgh team to claim the win (5-3) after City of Glasgow’s strong start.

Edinburgh turned their attention to Fife and were relentless in their attack, taking the game to 8-0! Fife kept their heads up and it was excellent to see Cara McHale (who hadn’t played since she was 12) rewarded with the Sandy King Salver for her drive to support the team, filling in with the badminton team as well as basketball and volleyball!

Coming off of respective wins, the time came for City of Glasgow College to play Edinburgh College. After the singles matches concluded, things were tied up 2-2. Edinburgh College managed to find success with a brilliant showing in the doubles, beating City of Glasgow 5-3.

Basketball

It was a straight final in the Women’s Basketball between Fife College and City of Glasgow College. Many players were raring to go after the buzz of participating in the Volleyball Final earlier in the day! A back-and-forth game saw scoring from both sides, but Fife College were unable to keep up with City of Glasgow who took an early lead and closed out the game 54-25. Well done to Rebeka Krupnivoka (Glasgow) who was awarded the MVP award by the Basketball Scotland officials.

A round robin between Edinburgh College, Fife College and City of Glasgow College heated up the basketball court in the afternoon. Fife put up a great fight against Glasgow but they couldn’t quite bring it back against the men in purple. Special mention to Maroof Springher and Joel Edzii who took 28 points between them for the team from the West! Final score 16-66 to Glasgow. Edezi also featured in a post-match interview with teammate Faraz Masih which you can check out here.

After a convincing win against Fife College, Glasgow took on Edinburgh. This was a much tighter match, with Edinburgh taking the early lead. Sizzling action from Edinburgh’s Finlay Steele kept Glasgow at bay with Steele (later named overall basketball tournament MVP) scoring 22 points for his team in the match. The game finished 74-31 to Edinburgh.

Fife College stepped up to play Edinburgh but any hopes of Edinburgh carrying tired legs were quickly dashed as Steele once again showed his class. Fife kept their heads up and fought back, spearheaded by Jamie Saufole who took an impressive 50% of Fife’s total points in the game – with some sensational 3-pointers. Though Edinburgh had the larger score in their 38-123 win, Fife must be mentioned for showing the most spirit.

Volleyball

Spectators couldn’t take their eyes away from the Volleyball court as Glasgow played Fife in a straight final for both Men’s and Women’s teams. In the women’s match, Fife College took an early lead but a series of neck-and-neck plays took the first set to the final point – with Glasgow just taking the set with 25-24. The second set saw Glasgow get into their stride, leading from the off, however the crowd held their breath as Fife had a run of 4 points, bringing the game to a tight 24-20.  In the end, it was a brilliant serving point that claimed the win for Glasgow and Rebeka Krupnivoka was awarded MVP for that sport as well!

In the Men’s Volleyball Final, Fife again took an early lead and seemed to be on track to take the set. However, a run of 5 points charged down the scoreboard to 20-24 with Harry Orr winning the set in spectacular serving fashion. It was another nail biter in the second set as the teams battled it out but Glasgow edged it once more to bring the game to 25-20. Congratulations to Daniel Sime of Fife College who was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award by the officials.

Football

The Men’s 7-a-side football round robin kicked off with Edinburgh College taking on City of Glasgow College and the very even match ended 3-3 at halftime. With both teams vying to take the victory, tensions heated up in the second half. Scores from both sides saw the score finish 5-5 – reflecting the strength and depth of talent on display in both teams.

In the second match, City of Glasgow College faced Fife College. City of Glasgow played valiantly but couldn’t mount an attack against the more experienced Fife College, who went into halftime up 7-0. The second half seemed like the perfect opportunity for City of Glasgow to come back but they appeared to take the foot off the gas as two players from City of Glasgow College were sent off. Fife College dominated the end of the game, winning to the tune of a 12-1 victory.

In the final football match of the day, Edinburgh College returned to try to pick up a win against Fife College. However, the Fife side learned from the previous match and came out more focused against Edinburgh. A competitive and more strategic match was witnessed, with the defenders stepping up to make Edinburgh’s lives difficult. Multiple saves from the Fife College goalkeeper kept them in the match and gave the attackers time to release their talent. Liam Newton in particular put in some brilliant plays and was rewarded as the ultimate MVP of the Men’s football tournament. With the score tied 1-1 at halftime, it was all to play for. Edinburgh hoped to find an advantage and break through Fife’s wall of defence but the next goal came instead from Fife College, and the match ended 2-1 to Fife.

Although the Women’s Football tournament was cancelled, the colleges all enjoyed themselves and the hope is to have a full showing at next year’s, eagerly anticipated, College National Finals.

We’d like to extend our congratulations to the City of Glasgow College for taking overall victory at the College National Finals, a phenomenal effort from students partaking in every discipline.

Thank you to Oriam for hosting, the Officials for their expertise and, of course, the colleges who are doing brilliant work to bring sport to their students. We look forward to seeing more colleges, and more smiling faces, in 2023!

See the full photo album here.

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